Making Circles
by pdljmpr6
Summary: Nate has Sophie. Hardison has Parker. Eliot has her, twisted, tangled and wonderful though it is. - Eliotcentric, EliotOC, chaptory episode tags. Spoilers for Season 3. CHAPTER Fifteen: The Morning After Job
1. The Jailhouse Job

**A/N**: It's a general consensus among the group where kaniacs and grifters collide that Eliot needs a girl. Now, I happen to be an Eliot/Parker shipper myself. But after Reunion, I can't say I'm feeling overly inspired on that pairing (damn you Leverage writers!) And hearing John Rogers talk, I don't feel confident that this troubling 'Eliot is girl-less' situation will be addressed anytime soon. So, I thought to myself, _'Eliot needs a girl. Eliot is nobody's fifth wheel. Well, dear pj, Eliot-fic-writing enthusiast. Why don't you do something about it?'_. Well, here it is. Me taking my own advice. I once really enjoyed creating an OC love interest for SGA's Ronon, and am looking forward to this as well. Each chapter is going to deal with one episode. Hopefully, this works. lol. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I only own the OC, and if TNT wants her too I'll gladly give her up.

oooOOOooo

_**Chapter One – The Jailhouse Job**_

Strip clubs had always been a comfortable, unexpectedly relaxing way for Eliot to spend an evening. A bunch of beautiful women with no qualms about taking their clothes off, who didn't ask him where he'd been or what that scar was or why he didn't like to cuddle.

Still, they weren't girls he could spend more than one night with. Ironically, Eliot Spencer, hitter, theif, con-man extraordinaire, preferred a little mystery from his women. He liked games. He liked the chase. The hunt. Liked to be challenged.

While most of Eliot's encounters happened in the backs of cars or rented hotel rooms, the purest, sweetest times had come from moments spent in darkness and silences. They were gentle. When it was just two of them and they had all night to explore and map and wonder. He liked that. Liked when women left a little something to the imagination.

Maybe he was just getting old.

Because here he was, a half dozen nameless, faceless, but beautiful girls practically begging to rip his pants off and he couldn't for the life of him get excited about it.

He almost smacked himself in the head when he pulled away from them with the excuse of 'going to have a smoke'.

Eliot pushed his way to the back door of the crowded, noisy club and burst through the fire exit that lead to the alley. There was very little light in the narrow passageway, tucked in between two large brick buildings. Boken glass glittered like diamonds near the wall and it stunk of garbage and mildew. Still, he was finding it easier to breathe now than he had inside the club.

Movement caught his eye and Eliot tensed instinctively, his hand sliding subtly to a knife he kept sstrapped to leather cuff he wore on his left wrist, but he relaxed again when two drunk, stumbling, giggling figures come out from behind a large dumpster.

The man smirked at him as he brushed past Eliot to go back inside, his fly still open. The women smiled sweetly and fixed her hair, following him.

Eliot rolled his eyes.

"No. Look, I said 'no', alright? I'm on my break."

Eliot's ears perked at a disembodied voice coming from somewhere else in the alley. He started toward it, telling himself it was because he had nothing better to do and knowing it was because he could smell a fight a mile away, and an unfair one from two.

"No! I said no. Why don't you just back off?"

Eliot's frown intensified at the note of alarm in the woman's voice and quickend his pace, sliding silently around a parked delivery truck and sidestepping a pair of stray cats enjoying their dinner in a cardboard box.

He could hear the low rumbling of a man's voice responding to the woman's but couldn't quite make out the words. Still, he had no problem recognizing the sound of a hard hand-to-cheek slap when he heard it and the startled female squeak that followed had him practically running through the puddles and garbage that littered the alley toward the voice.

He found them near the entrance of the alley, shoved back into the alcove of an abandoned back door, out of sight from the street and obscured from the light of a nearby streetlamp.

It didn't take a genius to figure out the tall, strong male figure in jeans and a black jacket was not being gentle. It didn't take hearing what Eliot had to know the petite, struggling woman pinned between him and the brick wall was an unwilling participant in the kiss.

No decision was required.

Eliot closed the distance between them in two large strides and grabbed the man by the jacket and, throwing all his weight back, yanked him off the woman and used the momentum to shove him into hurl him against the opposite wall.

The man, a stunned and surprised would-be biker tatted up and sporting a goatee, didn't put up much of a fight. He was angry and huge, outweighing Eliot by at least forty pounds, but also more than a little drunk and obviously used to lesser opponents than the Hitter.

Three sloppy swings and three well timed duck and counters later the man was cupping his bleeding nose and beating a hasty retreat.

Eliot stayed fight-ready, glaring a warning at the man until he hailed a cab and disappeared. Eliot snorted in disgust and turned around to face the woman.

She looked a little winded, her huge mass of curly hair flying in every direction from the wind coming off the water of the Boston Harbor and she smiled tightly at him to hide the shadows floating in her eyes.

"I suppose a 'thank you' is in order," she said quietly, rewrapping her brown, knee-lenth trench coat around herself, hiding the sheer white bustier and fishnets she wore underneath. Work clothes.

"Did you know that guy?" He asked gruffly, still a little pissed.

She let out a cold, brittle laugh, "Him specifically? No. His type, all too well," she shrugged. "Just another John who doesn't like to hear 'no'."

She stepped out into the circle of illumination provided by the streetlight, and in the corner of his eye saw her curly brown hair had bright blonde highlights and her lips were the deepest shade of red he'd ever seen. She kept her arms wrapped tight around her torso and shrugged just a little further into her coat when she seemed to suddenly realize that she was still in a dark, deserted alley with a man she didn't know.

Eliot noticed her sudden tension and looked away under the pretense of scanning the street for any further danger, allowing the woman to get her nerves back under control. It took surprisingly little time.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" she asked almost casually.

Eliot turned toward her and saw she'd tied off her trench coat and had fished a pack of cigarettes from her coat pocket. Her body language was relaxed but he could see the tension, the readiness, in her stance.

He didn't blame her, now that he was facing her fully he could see why the man had tried to take advantage of her. In the dim light provided by the streetlight her caramel brown skin glowed where it peaked from beneath her coat and slender, delicate fingers meant for something much more glamorous than lighting a cigarette danced on the ends of her hands.

Still, her bravado, and perhaps a bit of genuine nonchalance, amused him and he couldn't help but tease her.

"Lurking," he deadpanned, "I'm a lurker."

The woman's huge brown eyes narrowed on him and she tilted her head.

"I hope you aren't expectin' anything from me," a frown creased her brow and she set the cigarette between dark colored lips, still unlit, "because I told that other creep I'm on my break and I meant it."

Eliot shook his head, still a little amused but not wanting to anger or frighten her. "Just came out for a smoke."

The woman looked pointedly at his empty hands, "without any cigarettes."

Eliot just shrugged and the woman rolled her eyes and held her pack out to him. Eliot glanced at it and then reached out to take one.

"You got a light?"

She answered with a flick of her wrist and a small flame that lit her face dramatically, revealing a small smile on the corners of her lips. She held it out and Eliot lit his own cigarette, noticing the Marine Corps insignia on the side of the lighter, but didn't comment.

They stood in silence for a few moments, listening to the waves banging against the docks a few streets away and steeling themselves against the stiff, cool breeze that came with it.

"So, what are you stressed out about?" she asked. He smiled at the sound of her voice, suddenly glad he was shrouded in shadow. It was deeper and smoother than most girls he was used to talking to. Like her normal tone was almost a whisper and she just might be laughing at you with each word.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, flicking the ash off his cigarette, "who said I was stressed?"

The woman leaned back against the brick wall and tipped her head as if to look at the stars, blowing out a billow of smoke into the night sky.

"You did. The way you spaced out after the first drag and all your nervous fidgeting," she didn't notice his affronted look. Fidget? He did _not _fidget.

"The way you hesitate before each time you inhale, tells me you don't smoke all the time. And it's a good stress reliever, the nicotine," she continued, eyes still locked on the dark sky, the column of her throat exposed down to her collar bone.

"Very observant."

"Mm."

Over head, the clouds shifted out of the way to reveal a full moon and bathed them in a soft blue light that was almost ambient in the way it illuminated everything. Glowing.

"So what are you stressed about?" She asked again.

Eliot didn't answer, momentarily hypnotized by the glowing red ends of his cigarette and how it for some reason it reminded him of Parker, and how of all of them, Parker had taken Nate's capture the hardest. Even harder than Sophie. That had surprised them all.

Eliot wasn't sure how to forgive Nate for that. For hurting Parker. He wasn't sure how to forgive him for conning them either. For lying to them.

How was he supposed to keep working with these people, putting his life on the line for them, if they were going to keep letting him down?

"I'm a good listener," the woman's voice pulled Eliot back into the present. She dropped her chin to look at him, noticing not for the first time the intensely thoughtful look in his eyes and the way his shoulders stayed rigid even with the relaxed hands-in-pocket way he was standing.

Eliot returned her appraising gaze. She had a beauty mark on her left cheek.

"Have to be in my line of work," she continued, smiling in a way that made him want to join her. Light glinted off her large silver hoop earrings. "Lots of blowholes who like to hear themselves talk. So what is it?"

Eliot sighed, flicking away his cigarette and stamping it out in an excuse not to answer right away. Ordinarily that would be the end of the conversation and he would be walking away.

But something about the light of a full moon at four in the morning and the way the dark alley made him feel like the whole world might be sleeping that made him change his mind. Something about standing half a foot away from a woman who didn't know him and didn't care that allowed him to convince himself that it safe to tell her. Tell her _everything. _

And even a lone wolf like Eliot sometimes craved the kind of emotional intimacy his job didn't allow him to have.

Especially now.

Before was different.

Before he would go to Nate with a beer and a football game and call it a night. But Nate was in SuperMax and Eliot never had a conversation that mattered when there was a potential of it being recorded.

Before he would go to Sophie under pretense of cooking a meal for her and they could talk away the hours on everything and nothing at all. But Sophie was busy pining over and subsequently being furious at Nate.

And before he would go to Hardison with a DVD and an excuse. But Hardison was busy helping Sophie and finding subtle ways to move forward with Parker.

And he would go to Parker but…actually he wouldn't go to Parker.

So, since he couldn't honestly talk to any of them, he talked to her.

This radndom, nameless, dangerously sexy woman he'd never met before who was asking to know his secrets merely because she could.

Eliot cleared his throat, stuffing both hands into his back pockets an staring through the gap between the buildings on the other side of the street at the Boston Harbor.

"Tomorrow I'll be helping a friend."

The woman took a slow drag on her cigarette and nodded, tossing it to the ground as Eliot had done and ground it out with a five inch, white platform stiletto shoe.

"Like… help him move furniture?"

Eliot smiled, his gaze never moving. "No." He hesitated, "something slightly more illegal than that."

She raised her eyebrows, the lapels of her jacket being tossed away to reveal the lace upper edge of her white bustier. "Oh?"

"Yeah," he smiled cynically. "He lied to us. Usually I…hurt people that lie to me. But he's family, so..." he trailed off and chose not to dwell on the fact that he'd never used the 'f' word to describe the team before.

The woman nodded, tipping her head back again and this time letting her eyes fall shut, "it'll work out, Cowboy."

Eliot narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at her. With her face relaxed like that, in the low light of the moon and the streetlight, she was really exceptional looking. Beautiful and different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Some curls fell across her cheeks and she opened her eyes.

"Wanna know how I know?"

Eliot just nodded.

"Because you're doing it for a friend. For family. Fate bends it's will toward those with good intentions," she shrugged, "Karma 101."

Eliot 'hmm'd in response and ignored her gaze on his skin for several more seconds, pretending to be analyzing the group of rowdy college kids going into the club.

"Well, my breaks over so I gotta head back inside," she pushed away from the wall and stepped around Eliot close enough for him to smell the lilac perfume she wore and he turned to watch her leave, miles of smooth, caramel brown legs peeking out from beneath her short coat. She stopped suddenly and turned around and Eliot snapped his eyes up to hers.

A knowing smile tinted her tone. "Will I ever see you again?"

Eliot glanced up at the sky and then looked at her, matching her smirk with one of his own.

"Lurk in enough dark alleys in the middle of the night. Who knows?" he shrugged, his smile turning a bit more genuine, "our paths just may cross again."

_TBC - Next is 'The Reunion Job'. It should be up before the end of the week. _


	2. The Reunion Job

**A/N**: I was so amazed at the response to that first chap! Thanks so so much for the reviews, I really hope everyone continues to like this. I freakin' can't wait till the new episodes on SUNDAY! Oh, and a used some lyrics from Christian Kane's song 'Whiskey in Mind'. lol. I couldn't help myself. Enjoy -pj

oooOOOooo

**Chapter Two- The Reunion Job**

Eliot snarled as he yanked his com out of his ear. He contemplated throwing it at the floorboards of his truck, sense won out and he shoved it into his jacket pocket instead.

He sat in the cab of his truck for a minute, parked down the road from Dubertech, glaring at headlights as they passed.

He wasn't pouting. That was for damn sure.

So what if the rest of the team basically got to party all night (the unfortunate encounter with an incompetent assassin notwithstanding) at a fake reunion, and he was stuck in some 1985 flashback, fighting a pair of surprisingly resilient members of the Vezerat? It wasn't like he gave a damn.

And if he went home and crashed on his couch with a beer and a football game, that would not count as pathetic or sulking.

Not by a long shot.

Eliot grit his teeth against a headache and closed his eyes, leaning against the headrest.

If he was totally honest with himself (and let's face it, he wasn't at the moment) his body was throbbing more than a little. Being rammed back into that trophy case had rung his bell a bit, and that older guy had gotten in a couple of good hits at his ribs and kidneys that he was _definitely _going to be feeling in the morning.

Still, he knew the whole beer and football thing wasn't going to be happening tonight even if he wanted it to (which he didn't because it _was _kind of pathetic and sulky-like). He was too wired from the job. Too irritated at the rest of the team for…something.

He cursed out loud just because he could and slammed his truck into gear, slamming the pedal to the metal as he pulled away from the curb.

oooOOOooo

An hour later found Eliot at a small, out of the way bar he hadn't been to before. It smelled of cigarettes and liquor inside, the kind of place where his long hair and lookin'-for-a-fight attitude wouldn't make him stand out, and he made himself at home.

He almost smiled when the husky black guy slammed his pool stick down on the table, making all the balls roll off their marks. Two more guys, equally big and dumb looking as the first flanked him and Eliot calmly finished his beer and looked up, a glint of amusement and danger in his eyes.

"What'd you say about my momma?" the man growled.

Eliot glanced casually at the two thugs with the black guy, both sporting bandannas and gaudy chains with crosses. He looked down and pretended to be more interested in chalking his stick and lining up his shot than any of them.

"It's not a big deal, man, okay? She just didn't seem to mind my technique last night when she was bent over my kitchen table while I-"

Eliot didn't get to finish the thought. His stomach unclenched in routine relaxation and he instinctively moved to block the clumsy knife attack, though he didn't hide the wince that crossed his face when he bumped a bruise forming on his shoulder.

The two other thugs hung back and Eliot was just a little disappointed. It was going to be too easy. He almost felt bad for intentionally provoking the other man.

"C'mon," he drawled, smirking as the black guy regained his footing and swung back around, ready to make another attack.

Suddenly, the scent of lilacs invaded his senses and a full head of hair brushed against his nose. Frowning, Eliot stepped back, automatically putting space between himself and the unexpected extra player.

"Back off Roscoe," the smooth, strong feminine voice demanded. "Or I'm gonna have to let Max know just how you treat his VIPs."

Eliot mapped the body in front of him from behind. She was shorter than he remembered, but when he glanced at her feet he saw she'd traded in the five inch platform stilettos for black, knee-high lace up boots. Tucked inside them were tight dark jeans that hugged her curves up to her waist, where a black halter top finished the look.

Still, it was the skin that finally made it all click. Smooth, tan skin that glowed all on its own and reminded him of caramel covered apples.

The thought made him lick his lips unconsciously and Eliot blinked when he realized he'd done it, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed.

"That asshole's got a beatin' comin' so you best move outta my way," 'Roscoe growled at the woman, but his eyes remained locked on the hitter. Eliot made no move toward him, afraid the woman would be caught in the middle, but still inviting the fight with his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips.

The woman lifted the hand resting on her cocked hips, the other holding a tray with three full drinks, and she rested it against his chest. She raised to her tip-toes to whisper something in his ear, her red lips trailing along his dark cheek.

There was no way Eliot could make out what was being said, but he watched the man's eyes narrow in suspicion, then widen in surprise and then glaze over with a lewd smirk as she stepped away.

"I'm gonna hold you to that, baby," he said, letting his eyes slide off Eliot and over to her. But when Roscoe reached out to wind an arm around her waist she stepped gracefully out of his reach with ease born of practice.

"Now run along, Roscoe, take your pit bulls with you," she motioned a hand toward the thugs Eliot had been keeping an eye on the other side of the table. Roscoe sent one last glare over her shoulder at Eliot and then jerked his chin at the other men and they all shuffled off to a table where two women and a couple fresh beers were waiting.

Eliot looked back over at the woman and found her staring at him with a finely plucked, arched eyebrow.

"I suppose a 'thank you' is in order," she said, repeating the first words she'd said to him more than a week ago when they met.

Eliot just glared, gesturing toward Roscoe and his boys. "I can handle my own fights."

The woman shrugged one shoulder, either not noticing or not intimidated by his unhappy growl. Probably the latter.

"I know you can," she acquiesced, and turned away to take her tray of drinks to a nearby table. Eliot sighed and grabbed a pool ball from the table, needing something to do with his hands. He tried not to watch her butt when she walked away and watched her eyes as she returned.

"And if you didn't look like you'd already been in a few today I might have let you," she continued and walked past him back toward the bar. Eliot turned and followed before it even occurred to him not to.

She walked around behind the bar, pulling out two glass tumblers and setting them on the smooth, lacquered wood counter. Eliot lingered a few feet away, watching her. The woman's brown eyes flashed up to him when she noticed him hesitating, and motioned meaningfully toward the closest stool.

"Have a seat, Cowboy."

Eliot threw one last glance over his shoulder at Roscoe, but the other man seemed to have completely forgotten his presence, thoroughly wrapped up in the woman straddling his lap.

He dropped onto the stool and leaned on the counter, tossing his hair out of his face.

"I was lookin' forward to beatin' the shit outta that guy," he grumbled, taking a few peanuts from the bowl on the counter. The woman rolled her eyes and Eliot noticed for the first time the understated purple eye shadow she wore, and that aside from black eyeliner and dark lipstick, that was the full extent of her makeup.

Her eyes moved back up to him, but if she noticed him studying her, she pretended not to.

"On the house," she said, sliding the tumbler of whiskey across the bar to him. She kept the second one near her and filled it with ice and then water.

Eliot crossed his arms on the bar and took a sip of the whiskey, sighing when it burned in all the right ways.

He nodded his approval, "how'd you know my brand?"

She smiled at him, pouring water over the ice in the second tumbler. He liked the way she smiled. Showed all her teeth. He got tired of girls who always looked like they were posing for a picture.

"You should know, Cowboy, there's certain things a woman can tell about a man." Her eyes flashed toward him and he tilted his head. There was a heat and challenge in them that made him shift on his chair and the way her eyes skittered away made him think he was probably not the only one feeling it. Whatever _it _was.

She produced a white cloth and dipped it in the ice water before holding it up to him. "May I?"

Eliot frowned, unsure of her intentions, but nodded his assent. Slowly, the woman leaned across the bar and Eliot wasn't sure if she was aware of how much her low-cut top was showing when she did so. She pressed the cool cloth against his hairline just above his eyebrow, dabbing a few times and he was surprised when some of the throbbing he hadn't really noticed subsided.

She pulled the cloth away and dipped it again, tainting the clear water with a rusty shade of red, and leaned out for another round. She glanced at Eliot and, noticing his gaze, she smirked, but made a pass at pulling her shirt up to cover herself a bit more.

"Like what you see, Cowboy?"

He blinked and returned her smile, "Eliot."

She paused, searching his blue eyes for several moments, and he couldn't explain the feeling of vindication he felt when her smirk softened into a genuine smile.

"Eliot," she repeated, "I like that."

"Thanks." Eliot allowed her to tend to his unnoticed cuts again, watching small beads of sweat form on her brow and the way her lips pursed just slightly in concentration when she gave extra care to a deeper gash along his jaw just behind his ear. She reached out to cup his chin gently to keep him from moving.

"You got a name?" He asked quietly, she was close enough she could have heard him if he whispered.

The woman's eyes slid toward him, considering.

"Candy."

Eliot pulled his chin out of her grasp and raised an eyebrow. "That's your stage name."

She nodded. "You've been to the club before."

Eliot nodded, but didn't allow her to change the subject. "What's your real name?"

She looked away, focusing on her ministrations for a moment. She returned both the cloth and the glass to the sink behind the bar and Eliot waited patiently, watching her produce a shot glass and fill it with the same brand of whiskey she'd given him.

She knocked back the entire thing before answering, her curly hair flopping around wildly.

"Tallahassee," she croaked, voice rough from the whiskey. She slapped the glass down on the bar with a satisfied sigh. "My friends call me Tali."

Eliot blinked, "like Florida?"

She rolled her eyes, pouring herself another shot. "Yeah, okay? Like the city in Florida." She shrugged, nodding to a signal someone sent her behind him and pulled out two more glasses and a beer, mixing various liquors mindlessly, pouring a bit of this and a bit of that into each glass while she talked. "It's where my Dad met my Mom. They didn't really think about the reality of calling a child such a thing." She finished with the drinks and set them on the tray, "I'll be right back."

Eliot just nodded, smiling, and he turned around to rest his elbows on the bar while she delivered the drinks to a table. 'Ring of Fire' started playing from the radio and he hummed along softly, watching her return. She sat down on the stool beside him and rested her chin in her hand, watching the bar patrons go about their night.

"So which side do you get the accent from?"

Her eyes whipped to his and he smiled, remaining relaxed to counter the way she suddenly got tense.

"What accent?"

"The one that slipped out when you started in on my face," he tilted his head, "Dominican Republic?"

She looked toward the door, as if checking her exits and her spine straightened slightly. It was the first time he'd seen her display anything other than confidence and sex appeal. This emotion seemed honest though, and maybe even a bit vulnerable, if he ventured to say it.

"Yeah, I'm from the DR. Lived there until I was ten," she said, dragging her eyes back over to him, "my mom came here illegally. My Dad was in the Marines, stationed in Florida. They fell in love, got married. He adopted me." She smiled finally, reaching over to take and finish off his drink. "I can't believe you got me so relaxed. I'm usually better at hiding it."

Eliot's brow furrowed and he propped one booted foot up onto her stool, causing him to shift minutely toward her. Far enough not to be threatening but close enough that they were both aware of it. Her eyes flashed with that I-know-and-you-know-I-know glint again and she pushed a few unruly curls out of her face.

"Why would you want to hide it?" Eliot asked, and added with a smile, "it's sexy."

Tali nodded. "That's why." At Eliot's confused look she shook her head, putting her own booted feet up on his stool. Their legs brushed against one another, almost entwined.

"Makes me stand out. Makes me memorable. At the club. Here," she shrugged, gesturing vaguely around the quiet, darkened bar. "Guys start coming in asking for the girl with the 'sexy accent'. They get attached." She drew her eyes back to his, dark and honest. "I do _not _need to do the stalker thing again."

Eliot raised his eyebrows, secretly glad she wasn't trying to hide the Spanish accent anymore. It was subtle and only tinged a few of her words, but he found himself straining to hear it every time she opened her mouth.

"Again?"

Tali nodded, smiling and shaking her head. "Yeah. Tucker. Another guy who didn't know how what to do with the word 'no'."

"You seem to have a problem with that a lot."

Tali smiled at him, watching the way he raked a hand through his hair and saw the small silver hoops in his ears for the first time.

"I think I'll take that as a compliment." She looked over at the pool tables, where another game had started up. "Anyway, that's why I hide it," she sighed, "without the accent I'm just another nameless, faceless, but _amazing _lay. Love 'em and leave 'em. Better for everyone that way."

Eliot furrowed his brow, staring at her. He didn't miss the far off look in her eye or the distinct lack of bitterness in her tone. She didn't sound jaded about her lot in life. Wasn't looking for pity or to be saved.

"You don't mind." It wasn't a question.

She looked at him, the corner of her red lips kicking up. "It's what I do."

oooOOOooo

"You like to dance?"

Tali looked up from where she was cleaning glasses behind the bar.

He'd been content to sit there for a while after she went back to working. Watched her sling drinks, argued with her about the game on tv and tilted his head when she fell into deep conversation with another patron, a young brunette crying over her cheating boyfriend. He'd followed her outside on her smoke break, sharing a cigarette and listening when she confirmed that the lighter had been her father's, but hadn't pushed when she didn't elaborate on the subject.

It had been almost an hour, though, and the energy he hadn't been able to burn off with a good bar fight was starting to look for another outlet.

His foot bounced rapidly on the floor and he chased his shot with a beer.

"You mean the kind where I don't take my clothes off?" Tali asked with a slight smile.

Eliot flushed slightly, a bit more emotive after three shots and two beers, when he realized his mistake, "um. Yeah. That."

She shrugged, replacing the glasses and lining up a few of the top shelf liquors so the labels were showing.

"Yeah. I like to dance. Don't get much chance though. I work late and," she turned around, tossing the towel over her shoulder, "well who wants to dance alone?"

"Go with me then." He offered immediately.

Tali raised her eyebrows, "what?"

"Let's go. You and me. Tonight."

She looked at him thoughtfully for several seconds. "I don't get off till late. Almost two."

Eliot polished off his beer. "Two it is."

He hesitated again and then nodded, "Okay."

This time when Tali smiled at him he didn't fight the urge to return it.

And suddenly, the night was looking up.

_TBC - Next parts will be up after the episodes air on Sunday. Would love to hear what you thought!  
_


	3. The Inside Job

**A/N: **OMG those episodes were good! Thanks to everyone who's reviewing this, I hope this one lives up to expectations! Enjoy -pj

* * *

**Chapter Three – The Inside Job**

Eliot leaned against the frame of the bathroom door and watched Tali sleep. She had her back to him, her caramel skin in stark contrast to her white on white sheets. They were only drawn up to the small of her back, leaving the rest of her back exposed. He found his fingertips itching with the desire to touch each small bump her spine made under her skin.

He approached and sat on the edge of the bed, then shifted onto it, about to reach out when his sharp eyes caught sight of something he hadn't expected. He moved so that he was leaning on his elbow and squinted.

A long, slender, pale scar running from her last rib to her hip marred the delicate skin. He tilted his head, he knew a knife wound when he saw it. It was several years old, though and he found himself wondering where she got it, and if that was how women felt when they saw his scars for the first time.

He pushed the thoughts away and leaned forward to brush his lips across her shoulder and down her arms, wanting her to wake before he left.

oooOOOooo

The sound of a toilet flushing and feet shuffling across her hardwood floors brought Tali out of her sleepy haze slowly. The sounds brought awareness, a little bit of curiosity and a little bit of surprised contentment with it. She usually woke up alone.

The bed dipped behind her and a warm, solid mass pressed to her back. Feather light kisses dropped on her shoulders and over her arms. Strong arms wrapped around her waist.

And Tali's eyes whipped open.

She usually woke up _alone. _

She sat straight up in bed, the blankets dropping to her waist and she turned around to face the intruder.

Only not an intruder.

"Eliot?" she frowned, confused.

He lay on his side, his head propped up on his hand and looked up at her. His eyes dropped to her chest, but if Tali noticed she was naked she didn't care.

"What are you doing here?"

This time it was Eliot's turn to frown and he sat up beside her. "Don't tell me you don't remember last night."

_Clear blue eyes stared down at her like a lion eyeing its prey. Red lips toyed with the idea of a smile, dark brown eyes bright and refusing to look away from him._

_"Eliot," she said, barely a whisper. Her heart was pounding like a prom night tragedy and his mouth was completely dry._

_His eyes dropped to her lips and then bounced back, "yeah." _

_She hesitated again and reached up to push her hands into his hair. _

_"Do you want to kiss me?" _

_"Hell yeah." He nodded, a few strands of hair falling into his eyes, his breaths coming ragged and uneven._

_She smiled, all of her white teeth flashing in the dim light, "well, what are you waiting for, Cowboy?" _

_He smiled, accepting the invitation and leaned forward until he was kissing her, hot and sound and deep. It was urgent and new and she was impressed that he was doing things she was pretty sure she hadn't felt before. _

_"You sure about this?" He growled against her jaw, reaching up to take the tie out of her hair so that the thick curls fell across her shoulders and back._

_She nodded, answering breathlessly, "hell yeah." _

Tali shook her head and closed her eyes, pressing her hands to her temples. It seemed her hangover had woken for the day.

"No. I mean, yes. Of course I do. it was…" She trailed off, smiling, and it made Eliot smile too.

"Yeah."

"Yeah…bBut you're still here."

Eliot studied her a moment. If she'd seemed upset or uncomfortable with that fact, he would have gotten up and started gathering his clothes, no questions asked.

But she didn't look upset.

She looked confused. Surprised.

Eliot reached out and touched her face gently, cupping her jaw. "I'll leave if you want me to."

Tali's chest heaved for a few moments and Eliot waited while uncertainty warred with desire in her eyes. She pulled her plump bottom lip in between her teeth and Eliot moved his thumb to smooth over it, coaxing it back out, now shiny and wet.

"No. Stay." She nodded, but to convince herself or him, she wasn't sure, "I want you to."

Eliot smiled, moving his hand to cup her neck and pulled her toward him, kissing her and smiling against her lips when she immediately responded. He pushed gently and she took the hint, leaning back until she was flat and he was braced over her, still locked at the mouth, their tongues flicking and sliding and battling against one another.

Their intentions were halted from going any further when Tali's stomach growled loudly. She pulled away from the kiss laughing and Eliot raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hungry?"

She shrugged one shoulder and gasped slightly when Eliot slowly left off her lips and kissed across her jaw, down her neck, between her breasts and to her stomach, swirling her belly button before flicking his tounge inside it.

He looked up at her, mischievously. "I can fix that."

Tali raised an eyebrow and smiled, "naughty Cowboy."

Eliot smirked at her and pulled away, sitting up on the other side of the bed, searching for his jeans.

She groaned loudly and rolled over to hug her pillow.

He chuckled, grabbing her purple panties off the lampshade and tossing them at her.

"C'mon, I'll make it up to you."

"How?" She asked, frowning playfully at him while she pulled the offending garment on, and snagged his blue plaid button down shirt off the headboard and slipped that on as well.

She moved to sit on the edge of the bed and he came to stand between her legs so that she had to tip her head all the way back to see him. .

Eliot bent down, pushing his hands up into her curls and dropping a kiss to her forehead, and then her lips.

"Bacon."

Tali's spine straightened so fast she almost bumped their heads.

"I love bacon."

Eliot smiled, "I know, darlin'."

She held onto his belt loops for as long as she could as he walked away, but finally released him.

The entire studio apartment was visible from Tali's bed, save the bathroom and she sprawled back on it, watching Eliot saunter over to the kitchen. She bit her lip and tilted her head to get a better look at his ass and the way his jeans were riding dangerously low because he hadn't taken the time to find his belt.

Eliot glanced over his shoulder as he started rummaging through the cabinets.

"You gonna help?"

Tali smiled, "oh yeah. I pour a mean glass of orange juice." He raised an eyebrow and she shrugged, "that's about as useful as I get in the cooking department."

Eliot shook his head, laughing, and pulled a flat pan out of the cupboard to set it on the stove.

A shrill ringing filled the small apartment and Eliot whirled around, scanning the room for where he'd dropped his phone.

Tali followed the noise and rolled to look over the edge of the bed.

"Found it," she called out and in the same moment, opened it up to answer. "Eliot's phone."

There was silence on the other end and then a man clearing his throat. "Um, yeah, where is Eliot?"

"I suppose that depends on what you want with him, he's-"

The phone was snatched out of her hands and she looked up to see Eliot standing beside her. She hadn't even heard him cross the room.

"Nate? Yeah."

Tali rolled over onto her back, letting her eyes fall closed again and enjoying the sound of Eliot's low, rough voice.

"What? When?"

Tali opened her eyes and frowned, Eliot's expression had done a full 180 from playful to serious and his tone matched. She sat up, furrowing her brows in question.

Eliot just stared past her, listening intently to the voice, Nate, on the phone. Tali thought if she looked hard enough she could see something like worry behind those blue eyes.

"Alright, got it. I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and stuffed it in his pocket, already turning to scour the room for his clothes and shoes.

"Eliot? Is everything okay?" she asked.

Eliot shook his head, hopping on one foot as he pulled on his boots. "No. I gotta go help out a friend, she's gotten herself into some trouble."

Tali looked around, the tension in his tone not lost on her. She saw his wallet and folded up pocketknife on the nightstand and reached for them.

"Heads up," she said, and tossed it to him when he looked up. At the same moment, the smoke alarm started going off and they both looked over to see the pan Eliot had turned on had gotten too hot and was burning the bacon, smoking profusely.

"Ouch! Dammit!"

Tali's head whipped back over and she saw Eliot clutching his nose, wallet in hand, knife on the floor be side him and blood running down his fingers. She hissed in sympathy.

"Eliot, I'm sorry," she shouted and leapt off the bed to retrieve a package of band aids from the bathroom.

By the time she got back to him Eliot was fully dressed except for his shirt and holding a paper towel against his nose.

"Here, let me see," Tali approached him and held out a small band aid, looking him over when he pulled the paper towel away. "Looks superficial, but you might have a bit of a bruise."

Eliot snorted, "what else is new."

Tali glanced at him, unsure of what to make of that comment.

"Hold still or I'm going to be taping your eye shut." She warned.

"I have to go-"

"I know, and the sooner you let me do this, the sooner I'll let you leave." She smiled and made a satisfied noise when she finished smoothing the small bandage across the bridge of his nose.

"There."

"Wonderful. Can I go now?"

Tali seemed unphased by his brusque tone and nodded, drawing her hands up above her head. Eliot's eyes darkened just slightly and he grasped the hem of his shirt, pulling it off her, dragging his knuckles along her sides as he did so.

He smirked when he felt Tali shiver beneath him.

He pulled his shirt on and leaned over to kiss her once more, warming every part of her that was now exposed to the air.

He was halfway to the door before she could think well enough to speak again.

"You owe me some bacon, Cowboy."

oooOOOooo

Nate and Eliot walked side by side up the fire-escape stairs on their way to the roof to meet with the mysterious contact.

Eliot was keeping up a sweeping scan of the floors above and below them, but he felt Nate's eyes on him all the same.

"What?" He growled, keeping his eyes on the top floor door as they passed, ready to fight should the need arise.

Nate cleared his throat and shrugged as they turned to go up the last flight of stairs.

"A woman answered your phone." He said, and stopped, as if he thought Eliot would fill in the blanks.

"Yeah."

Nate reached up to scratch his chin, "well, I guess I was just wondering if she was-"

"So how'd your breakfast with Sophie go?" Eliot interrupted just outside the roof access door, turning to look at him suddenly. Nate's steps faltered and Eliot raised his eyebrows.

The mastermind nodded, "point taken."

Eliot dipped his chin, "good." He started to open the door .

"And the nose thing…"

"Nate," Eliot snapped, squeezing his eyes shut and reigning in his temper.

Nate raised his hands in surrender, "You're right. Okay. Let's just get Parker."

* * *

_TBC- Next chap, The Shehazerade Job - Yes, I"m quite certain I didn't spell that right, too.  
_


	4. The Scheherazade Job

**A/N:** Here's the next chap with the episode title I had to copy and paste so as not to misspell. Seriously. I can't even _say _the effin thing, how am I supposed to spell it? lol. I'm still more than ecstatic at the reviews I'm receiving and how many people like the OC. Thanks so much! Also, in other news, *turns off punchy tired author voice, puts on droning bored robot voice* I 'edited' this (ran it through grammar speller check) at one in the morning. There will be typos. There will be missing words. I'm sorry. Please don't point them out in the reviews like you think I'll go back and change it. I do my best, but I'm not getting paid for this, so it's not gonna happen. *turns back on punchy tired author voice* Thanks again comrades! And enjoy! -pj

**A/N2:** Sorry to anyone that was just alerted that this had been posted! I hatched a thought just as I responded to the last review (**_vickyloka _**my muse's bfff!) and had to hurry and add in one more scene...I'm not tellin' which one!...okay, you beat it out of me. The first one, I just realized the chap needed some team action.. And, for the record, it is now 1:38am.

**Disclaimer**: I own my collection of converse tennis shoes. I own more papermate pens than should be legally allowed in the US. I even own Tali and her wild hair. One thing I do NOT own, however, is Leverage, and anything mentioned therin.

oooOOOooo

**Chapter Four – The Scheherazade Job**

Eliot frowned as he walked out of the 'Leverage' building on the way to his car. A very familiar figure sat hunched over on the stoop of the next building.

And it was _way _past the Hacker's bedtime.

"Hardison?"

The man looked up upon hearing his name and made an effort to smile.

"Sup man?"

Eliot stood a few feet away from Hardison but could smell the alcohol on the air.

"You drunk?"

Hardison let out a quiet laugh that set Eliot's hair on end. Hardison was never quiet.

"Naw man," he produced a glass bottle Eliot hadn't noticed and lifted it to his lips, "workin' on it though."

Eliot tilted his head and his eyes flicked around cautiously before he approached the hacker, squeezing himself into the small space on the step beside him. He leaned his elbows on his knees and stared at the ground between his boots.

"That was a pretty shitty thing Nate did."

Hardison nodded, pressing the bottle to his lips once more, unseeing eyes staring at that space out spot located about a foot and a half in front of his face.

"I hate mind games," he muttered.

Eliot nodded, pushing his hair back so that it didn't block his peripheral vision.

"I hate when someone cons their own team."

Hardison picked at the label on his now empty bottle of beer.

"Nate seems to like both of those things."

Eliot bobbed his head again and then got a mischievous look in his eye. "Want me to beat some sense into him?"

Hardison snorted in what passed for drunk laughter, but it made Eliot feel a little better because it was _loud_.

"You really would, wouldn't you?"

Eliot shrugged one shoulder and nodded, "I mean, it's not like we need him to _walk _in order to plan the cons."

That made Hardison laugh outright, so hard he almost dropped the glass bottle, so Eliot took it from him, a smile kicking up the corners of the hitter's mouth.

Hardison took a deep breath as he calmed back down and swatted Eliot on the arm playfully, earning himself a quick glare.

"You alright man, you know that Eliot?"

"Of course he knows that."

They both looked over to see Parker leaning against the street lamp a few feet away. She pushed off it and approached, "it's not like he's half left."

Eliot blinked, and his confusion morphed into a frown. Hardison just laughed and climbed to his feet, slinging one long arm over Parker's shoulders and she started to lead him back toward their building.

Eliot got up to finish his trek toward his truck, but ended up stopping to watch them for a few seconds. He noted how Hardison's tall, well built frame dwarfed Parker in comparison. And how she was more than strong enough to handle his unsteady weight anyway. How they were complete opposites, but somehow still seemed to fit together all too well.

It reminded him of someone.

"Hey."

Eliot looked up to see the pair had stopped and were looking back at him.

"You gonna be okay tonight?" Parker asked, shifting her arm to be a little lower on Hardison's waist, "you took quite a beating."

"Yeah man, maybe you shouldn't be alone."

"Don't worry, guys," Eliot shook his head and smiled slightly, "I'm not alone."

oooOOOooo**  
**

Tali puffed out her cheeks and blew a breath, shaking her head irritably. Hands on her hips, she scowled at the mirror.

"Why? Why must you fight me on this?" she sighed, tugging helplessly at her hair, "Estoy volviendo loca."

Rolling her eyes at herself, she flipping off the bathroom light, she jogged out into the main space, hopping from foot to foot as she pulled on her tennis shoes.

She grabbed her biggest pair of hoop earrings off the dresser and the red platform patent pumps from the kitchen table, stuffing them both in her bag.

"Keys, keys…" she muttered, patting her pockets and turning in a circle, "where did I…"

A knock on her front door made her stop and frown. It was almost midnight, she was due at the club any minute and she was _definitely _not expecting any visitors.

Cautiously, Tali stepped over to the door, grabbing the steel bat she kept in the corner and looking through the peephole. She smiled when she saw him on the other side.

"Eliot," she said, whipping the door open. "I didn't…um," she shook her head, not wanting to finish.

Eliot smiled tiredly at her, leaning heavily against the doorframe. He looked her up and down, taking in the casual, baggy jeans and green spaghetti strap tank; he assumed she had the night off.

"Goin' to play a little ball?"

Tali frowned and then seemed to suddenly remember the bat in her hands.

"Oh," she shrugged, "you can't be too careful." She stood back to set the weapon aside and pulled the door open. "Did you wanna…"

Eliot nodded and stepped inside.

"Wasn't sure if you'd be up."

If Tali hadn't been so well acquainted with the aftermath of bar fights she might have missed the careful way he held himself and how he was trying not to limp.

She shut the door and turned to face him, pulling her unsatisfactory hair back into a ponytail and sliding her hands into her back pockets.

"I work at a bar and a strip club, Eliot. I'm practically nocturnal."

He shifted on his feet, hiding a slight wince and Tali studied him openly. The silence grew thick between them, neither had expected it to be awkward.

"So what are you doing here?" she smiled finally. She pretended to look for something out the window to avoid his stare. "Didn't really…expect to see you again."

Eliot's brow furrowed and he forgot momentarily the ache in his shoulders and back. Tali seemed to sense his confusion and turned to put distance between them, approaching the window and leaning her suddenly too-warm face against it.

After their second chance meeting, it had become something of a ritual for Eliot to meet Tali for dancing on the nights she didn't have to work. They always hit a different club, sometimes more than one. Always arrived in separate cars, always left alone.

It was amicable. Nice. Unexpected.

Why would she have expected it to suddenly stop?

"Why not?" He shook his head slightly in confusion, "I like you. I like…being with you."

Tali's eyes fell shut and her back grew rigid. She knew if she turned around she would find him giving her that intense look that gave her no option but to spill her soul.

She kept her back to him.

"Yeah. I like you too," she took a deep breath, gripping the thick dark drapes, meant for blocking out the sun, in both fists, "I just don't usually see men again after I sleep with them."

Eliot's eyes flicked over to the bed and he was hit the memory of the night they'd spent there almost a week before. It had been hot and passionate and needy and desperate. And amazing. But not romantic. Not slow.

And seeing the way Tali was skirting around him now, he was starting to regret that.

Eliot closed his eyes and blew out a breath, "I'm sorry."

He didn't want her to think he was like that. He didn't want to be one of her Johns.

"Don't be," she turned around suddenly, her smile sharp and jagged. Nothing like the soft, brilliant smile she flashed when she spotted him across a club's crowded dance floor. He liked that smile.

"It was good. Real good." Tali assured him.

"No, I mean…it wasn't…like that," he sputtered helplessly; the headache he'd been fighting all night was starting to push against his skull.

Tali stared at him, eyes narrowed minutely and lips pressed in concentration, until he was forced to look away.

He found himself wondering what it was she kept looking for when she did that.

"So why are you here? You never said."

Eliot looked up and saw she'd shed the cautious, thoughtful expression and was back to that confident sex-smirk she wore so well.

"Couldn't sleep," he shrugged.

Tali raised an eyebrow and pushed off the wall to approach him, an exaggerated swagger in her step.

"Sleep, huh? Didn't think you did that."

She stopped just inside his personal space and the scent of lilacs he'd come to associate with her surrounded him.

He just grunted in response.

"And this insomnia, it wouldn't have anything to do the bruises you're trying so hard to hide, would it?"

She took a small step back and gave him a head-to-to sweep of her brown eyes.

"Left shoulder, left ribs. Lower back and," she tapped her chin, "right elbow."

Eliot raised his eyebrows in surprise, looking down at himself. He wore his 'not sure I won that one' ensemble, which consisted of his baggiest pair of jeans, easy to slip on and off over sore muscles and a black tank top and hoodie, also baggy and for the same reason.

"Don't tell me," he gave her a crooked grin, "you work nights at a hospital too."

Tali tipped her head back and laughed. "No Cowboy, just been around for the aftermath of a few too many drunken brawls, that's all."

Eliot nodded, "well, you're right. Although the ribs might be cracked. That African Security guy was a behemoth."

Tali frowned in amusement, "African Security guy?"

Eliot smiled, shaking his head, "never mind." He pulled one hand out of the pocket of his hoodie and rubbed his face, "Just couldn't get comfortable at home. Can't relax."

She gave him a soft look and he was surprised at the genuine concern on her face, but it was gone too quickly to comment on.

"I know how to relax you."

"Don't think I'm quite up to that tonight, Darlin'." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and reached out to grab his hand, pulling him toward the couch, "get your mind out of my pants."

"Hey." He pulled her back to his chest when she started to pull away and the serious look on his face wiped the smile off hers.

"You know um…" he said, his voice rough and quiet, "you know I'm different, right? I'm not…one of those guys."

Tali blinked at him for a few seconds, searching his face, her hand pressed against his chest while one of his arms kept her close to him at the waist.

"Yeah. I know that, Eliot." She nodded to assure him and gave him the soft smile he yearned to see. It made a knot of tension loosen in his stomach.

"Good."

Tali allowed him to keep her close a moment longer, dragging her hand up from his chest to touch his face and pulled him down to her. She kissed him, just once, and didn't allow him to get too involved in the possibilities the night often brought.

She pulled away and dropped onto the couch, "now _sit_."

Eliot chuckled, "bossy."

Tali patted the space next to her, professing the magical properties and 'unparalleled comfort ' of the blue piece of furniture. Eliot sat down beside her, groaning in pleasure when the cushions immediately molded around him, instantly taking pressure off all his sore joints.

"It's nice, right?"

Eliot groaned again. Tali shook her head, smiling as she reached over to coax him down until his head was lying in her lap.

"There," she whispered, allowing her natural accent to come through thick, knowing he liked it, "that better?"

Eliot's only response was to sigh, his eyes slowly falling closed.

She carded her hands through his hair, repetitive and slow, brushing long delicate fingers across his ear and massaging his scalp. She smiled when he almost whimpered in pleasure and pressed back into her fingertips, but she danced them away before he could get too used to the feeling in any one spot.

She waited until his breathing had evened out and she was almost certain he was asleep.

Then she took great care to lift her hips to reach into her pocket without bothering him and fished out her phone.

"Hey, Victor? It's Tali," she said quietly when the line was answered, soothing her hands through his hair to his shoulders when Eliot started to stir. "Listen, I'm not gonna make it in tonight."

She smiled when his nose twitched in sleep and resisted the urge to touch it.

"No, everything's fine, I just…something came up," she listened with half an ear to her boss on the phone and scrunched up her face in concentration, trying not to move at all while she carefully toed off her shoes. "Yeah. Thanks Vic."

Tali switched her phone to silent and set it on the coffee table, shifting her hips to one side to be more comfortable and let her hands dance through Eliot's hair absently.

"Ya didn' hafta do tha'," he mumbled, eyes not even open.

Tali smiled. Of _course _he'd woken. Why did she bother?

"I know that, Cowboy. I wanted to."

"Why?" His left eye blinked open and he shifted his feet to be more comfortable.

Tali sighed, enjoying the way his long brown locks slid smoothly through her fingers. She licked her lips and traced the folds of his ear lightly, fascinated by the way the light shone off his earring.

"Because, Eliot…in my world of faceless, nameless Johns…men that don't care who I am…you _have_ a name. And you talk to me and," she looked down and smiled when he seemed to sense her gaze and turned his head to look at her, "you keep coming back. I think I like that."

oooOOOooo

"You ever been to Africa?"

Tali glanced down at the top of Eliot's head. She thought he'd gone back to sleep, he'd been quiet so long.

Sprawled out between her legs, Eliot allowed himself a moment of rare relaxation while Tali gave him a back rub and missed the 'where are you going with this' look she wore behind him.

"Not Africa, no."

"Want to?" he paused and her hands grew still, "I got a couple weeks off, thinkin' of going to help with a construction project there."

Tali bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment and Eliot silently anticipated what her next question would be.

Sophie would ask, 'now, by Africa, you don't mean like, hot, sweaty, dusty not-a-shopping-mall-in-sight Africa, right?'. Parker would want to know 'why would you want to go there? It's really hard to rob a diamond mine'. Hell, Aimee would just ask if he was crazy.

But Tali wasn't like any of the other women in his life, past or present.

And her question made him despite injured ribs.

"Will you be dressed like the construction worker from The Village People?"

"More than likely," Eliot smiled, clutching his sore side.

Tali nodded, resuming the massage.

"Just one problem. I don't have a _thing_ to wear."

_TBC - Next up, the Hiatus week chapter.  
_


	5. Hiatus Week: The Africa Job

**A/N**: I usually don't post a chapter that's much more than 2,000 words since that seems to be the peak word count to get the most reviews. This one is about a thousand more than that so please please tell me what you think, okay? I really really wanna know. The more detailed the better! I think I'm more excited about this chapter than I was about an of the previous ones so I really hope you all feel inclined to tell me what you think. I LOVE YOU ALL! Hardison/Parker in this chap for you H/P shippers, so look out! Haha. Translations are given at the end and, um, can I just say, I really want Eliot to take me to Africa? lol. Enjoy! -pj

**Disclaimer**: Don't own the show. Don't even own Hardison's underpants. :)

* * *

**Chapter Five – The Africa Job (aka 4th of July Hiatus Week)**

Hardison stumbled out of his bedroom on the team's third day off in boxers and a black tank top, ready to start the day with some cartoons and a nice mug of hot orange soda.

Don't knock it till you've tried it, he always says.

He yawned wide, scratching his belly and shuffled toward the kitchen with his eyes still half closed. He'd already started a pan for eggs and downed half his orange beverage of choice before he realized he wasn't alone.

"Parker!" he yelped, dropping his mug and searching frantically for something to cover himself up with.

"Parker you don't just show up in a man's apartment at 8:30 in the morning. Dang. Woman had to go all Night Crawler on me and see me all up in my unmentionables," he grumbled, snagging his dishtowel and holding it awkwardly in front of himself. "Mm-mm, nope. Nana always said-"

"Hardison." Parker sat on his counter in front of his microwave, still wearing the black harness she's probably used to get into his top floor apartment in the first place.

"-and now she gonna know I sleep in Harry Potter boxers and I-"

"Hardison."

"-don't get no respect from nobody, I swear. And after I whooped a Staranko, _a Staranko _for you and you wanna be all-"

"Hardison!"

"What?" he snapped, looking up from where he was trying to clean the mess of orange soda off his floor.

Parker gave him a blank look, but her fingers fidgeting in her lap gave away her anxiety.

"Eliot's gone."

Hardison frowned and stood up, the paper towel in his hand dripping orange soda back to the floor.

"What do you mean gone? We always spend some of the time off watching movies and stuff." Of course, he wouldn't put it past the hitter to go off tradition without telling them.

Parker shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know but his trucks gone and about half his clothes are missing," she paused a beat, "should we call Nate?"

"Hold on there Mama," he went to throw away the orange mess and quickly washed his hands. "Let's make sure this is actually a problem before we go draggin' Papa Bear into things."

"Ha!" Parker laughed in that loud, forced way she did and shook her head. "Papa bear."

Hardison gave her an odd look and switched off the burner for his eggs. It looked like breakfast was going to have to wait.

A half hour later Hardison had found a pair of sweatpants and a laptop and Parker had poured them both a bowl of cereal.

"Okay. Found him," Hardison announced, causing Parker to lean in closer to him from her perch on the arm of his chair. He glanced at her when the ends of her long blonde hair brushed his shoulder and smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Looks like he booked a flight to Kenya two days ago at like…one in the morning." He leaned in a bit closer to his screen, squinting, "that's weird."

Parker shrugged, pushing the last of her cheerios around in her milk.

"Not really. I've booked flights at three in the morning. From an air vent. During a tsunami." She got a wistful grin on her face.

Hardison shook his head.

"No, not the fact that he booked it at…wait a second, a tsunami?" He glanced up but Parker was still lost in memory so he shook his head. "Never mind. Anyway, it's not that he booked it so late, it's that he didn't do it from _his _computer."

That caught Parker's attention and she watched Hardison's fingers dance across his keyboard for a moment as he looked up more information.

"He did it from someone named Tallahassee Reyes' computer. And…oh." His eyebrows shot up.

"What?" Parker leaned over again until she was practically sitting on his computer, trying to see what he saw.

"He didn't buy just one ticket. He bought two. And the other one was for the same lady. Reyes." Hardison sat back from his computer, a smug little grin on his face.

Parker pulled back from the screen and turned to face the hacker.

"Eliot's got a girlfriend."

Hardison nodded, "yup."

They sat in silence a moment, processing the idea of their hitter, their gruff, grumbly, irritable, always-on-the-verge-of-violence Eliot, with a girl.

They decided they liked it.

"Let's not tell Nate and Sophie." Parker said after a moment.

"Why not?"

Parker turned to give him another one of her 'crazy' grins and Hardison found himself smiling back.

"I like secrets," she whispered, then hopped up, leaving her bowl on the table in front of him and scampered across the room.

"By the way, I already knew about the Harry Potter boxers."

"You what?" he sputtered, "how?"

Parker just giggled and jumped out the window.

oooOOOooo

Eliot finished nailing down the last of the tin roof and sat back, untying his bandana to wipe away the sweat sliding down his face and neck.

The man sitting beside him held out a goatskin bottle of water and Eliot took it with a grateful smile.

"Thanks Abasi," Eliot sighed and wiped his lips, rotating his shoulders as the sun beat down on his bare back. He would not usually be so careless about going shirtless, he didn't like to make up stories about the scars there. But he'd found people from places like this had their own scars to bear and rarely gave his a second glance. It was...liberating.

Abasi nodded at him, his dark skin glistening like night but he didn't seem to be sweating at all, and his white eyes and teeth flashed a smile that made Eliot think he might be getting laughed at.

"Pia moto?"

Eliot raised his eyebrows. "Too hot? Gee, no, it's only 105 in the shade," he glanced around, his hair swinging lazily from his ponytail, "not that you have a lot of that around here."

Abasi raised one lanky arm, he had to be at least a foot taller than Eliot if they both weren't crouching on the small scaffolding leaning against the side of the partially constructed building, and pointed at the tree line. It sat a good half-mile away and on the other side of the waist high wheat fields.

Eliot rolled his eyes, "Asante."

The other man laughed a deep, rolling belly laugh that the Wadatans seemed so good at and Eliot shook his head, joining in because it felt wrong not to.

He retied his bandana and lifted his nose when the smells of lunch being cooked by the women in the communal hut a few yards away reached them.

"Food ready yet?"

Abasi nodded, "karibu." He tilted his head to look past Eliot when the man took another drink of water and jerked his chin toward the approaching figure.

"Mwanamke wako nzuri kuja."

Eliot turned to look, squinting in the arid African sun, and smiled when he caught sight of Tali.

"Lookin' good up there, Cowboy," she called out, grinning back at him. Tali wore a loose, button down yellow sundress that fluttered eagerly in the breeze. She'd taken to the habit most of the natives had of running around barefoot almost as soon as they arrived, leaving Eliot to be the odd man out as he simply refused to shed his steel-toed boots unless absolutely necessary.

Her long toes traced patterns in the dirt lazily and Eliot stood, moving to climb down the scaffolding.

"Abasi," he called the other man's attention and smirked, "mwanamke _yangu_ nzuri."

He raised an eyebrow to emphasize the point and Abasi burst out into loud laughter again and called out in heavily accented English, "understood, _Cowboy_."

Tali pulled off her oversized sunglasses and perched them on her head as an impromptu headband, watching Eliot swagger toward her.

"What was that all about?" She asked, flicking her eyes toward Abasi, who was eyeing them both with a smirk.

Eliot just shrugged, still smiling as he slid in close to her, laid his hands on her hips and kissed her 'hello'. Several seconds later he pulled back.

"How's it look?" He slung an arm around her to face the building and Tali pushed it away playfully.

"You're sweaty."

Eliot feigned a hurt look and Tali laughed.

"Crocodile tears don't work on me, Cowboy."

Then, seeing the devilish glint in his eyes, she started to back away.

"No," she put her hands out as if to stave off his approach as he stalked after her, raising his arms in the universal sign for 'come give me a hug'.

"Eliot! I'm serious you're so gross right now!"

Eliot growled and reached out to grab her hand with lightning quick reflexes. Tali shrieked, turning to run but was too slow. He pulled her back toward him with a slight jerk and she laughed as he lifted her off her feet, both hands wrapped tight around her waist, sweaty chest pressed to her back as he 'devoured' her neck.

Her laughter was drowned out by the loud voice of the village Matriarch coming from the food hut.

"Chakula cha mchana!"

Eliot looked up immediately. "Lunchtime."

He put Tali on her feet as the men working on the building began pouring out of places unknown, all as tired and famished looking as Eliot.

Tali sighed contentedly and caught Eliot's arm as he turned toward the delicious smelling food, pulling it up across her shoulders. She rolled her eyes at his fond look and smiled.

"You're lucky I like you."

Eliot nodded and dropped a kiss onto her cheek.

"I know."

oooOOOooo

Eliot had long ago made a habit of asking what was going into any dish he didn't recognize, sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of necessity. But he was surprised to find Tali had the same custom.

Seated on woven baskets and cut logs in small groups all around the shade of the thatched hut, he found himself translator between Tali and the handfuls of women who'd cooked the meal for the better part of an hour.

"So, can you make this?" she asked him around a mouthful of Ugali. She looked up and smiled at a group of barefoot, dark skinned boys that ran past, a soccer ball tangled up in their feet.

Eliot finished off his own meal with a glass of water and fanned the sleeveless blue shirt he'd put on a few times, shrugging, "probably."

Tali nodded, "you should."

Eliot smiled, watching her enjoy the plain, filling food. Fascinated by how her tongue rolled around in her mouth while she worked out the texture.

Tali's noticed him staring at her lips and her eyes flashed in a way he'd come to recognize. Her pink tongue darted out to lick them her bottom lip and she smirked. His eyes snapped up to hers and he watched her shift toward him, pressing her lips hard over his while he remained reclined on the ground, his hands propped out behind him. He tasted lunch on her tongue when she pressed it against his teeth and his eyes fell closed, enjoying every minute of her attentions.

A hush fell over the small gathering and the children giggled at the sight of the two strangers engaged in such an obvious show of affection.

Eliot licked his lips and glanced around. The women were either blushing or giving him an approving nod while the men either looked jealous or admiring. The reactions were heavily tainted by the age of the observer, he noted. A particularly put out looking young man of about sixteen who'd been eying Tali since the moment they stepped off the bus, was glaring for all he was worth.

Slowly, the group returned to their meals and Eliot looked back over at Tali, who didn't seem to have noticed they were the center of attention and was finishing off her meal, licking her fingers to get every last morsel.

She opened her eyes and smiled. "Yum."

Eliot chuckled and climbed to his feet, grabbing her hand as he did so and pulling her up as well.

"Udhuru sisi," he dipped his chin at the elder Wadatans and winked at Adasi as he pulled Tali toward the dusty motorbike one of the locals had loaned him. The man's laughter followed them until Eliot kicked on the engine and it whined to life.

oooOOOooo

Eliot immediately missed Tali's arms when she unwrapped from around him and climbed off the bike but stayed quiet and watched her spin slowly on the small patch of yellow grass beneath the old Acacia tree, taking in the landscape.

Without the whine of the small engine Tali was struck by the silence, followed closely by the realization that there was no silence. Birds sang, bugs buzzed, and in the distance she was pretty sure she could hear a heard of gazelle or zebras galloping across the plains.

"Eliot," she breathed, awestruck by the beauty of the place. They'd only driven for about fifteen minutes, but there were no signs of the building project or any of the people. "How did you find this place?"

Eliot had dismounted the bike and his hands were pushed into his pockets as he walked toward her. He motioned his head toward a stand of trees behind them.

"There's a big tree trunk in there that's roots have made a little cave in the dirt. Perfect for hiding from Libyan hit men."

She gave him another one of those looks like she wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe him and strung her arms around his neck.

"Hit men, huh?"

Eliot nodded, his nose brushing hers slightly. "Big, mean ones."

The corner of her mouth kicked up and she brushed her teeth along his ear.

"Sounds like your type."

Eliot let his head drop into the crook of her neck and breathed in lilacs for a moment, and then pulled back.

"Aren't you hot?"

She looked up at him through her eyelashes, words dripping with innuendo.

"For you? Always."

He smiled, sliding his hands from her waist to her stomach, dragging up her front to just below her collar bone, and began undoing the long line of buttons that started there.

They didn't speak, short gasps and slow hands the only words between them. They hid in the waist high grass as it danced with the wind in time with their song.

Later, Eliot tracked the movements of a small squirrel-like creature jumping from branch to branch in the tree above them. Tali's fingers danced along his chest. Just like always, they traced the unnaturally smooth skin of a scar over his heart, but she didn't ask. Never asked.

For the first time in his life, though, he thought maybe it would be alright if she did.

Tali propped her chin up on her arm and looked at him.

"What made you want to come here? To help them build that music foundation?"

Eliot took a deep breath, tucking one hand under his head and shifted on the blanket he'd laid out for them.

"I met this woman a few days ago. She needed...help. And hearing her story it...I guess it reminded me of things I'd seen the last time I was here."

He paused and Tali interjected quietly.

"Last time wasn't a good time, was it?"

Eliot's mind's eye was suddenly filled with the memory of young, too young, hands gripping the triggers of ugly weapons and he sighed.

"No," he responded roughly. Tali nodded, but didn't press for more details. He liked that she didn't ask about his scars, physical or not, but it worried him too.

It meant she would expect the same self control from him someday, and he wasn't sure he could promise that.

The breeze picked up again and the sound of melodic voices tumbled over them. The Wadatans singing acapella while they cleaned up the midday meal.

He smiled softly and Tali traced his lips with her finger.

"I know I'm just one person but," he shrugged one shoulder and tightened his hand on her waist, "small acts can have a ripple effect."

Tali smiled at him and laid her head back down on his chest, closing her eyes and picturing the alley where they met.

"Yes. They certainly can."

* * *

_TBC - Um. I don't speak Swahili, and if you do, i probably butchered your language and I'm sorry. I used google translate, but I'll save you the typing._

Swahili to English (loose translations):_  
_

Pia moto - too hot?

Asante - thanks

karibu - soon

mwanamke wako mzuri kuja - your beautiful woman is coming

mwanamke _yangu_ nzuri - _my _beautiful woman

chakula cha mchana - lunch

Udhuru sisi - excuse us


	6. The Double Blind Job

**A/N**: As always I LOVE reading your reviews, thanks so much to anyone who has taken the time to let me know what they think of this. Oh and WHO ELSE IS FREAKIN' EXCITED ABOUT THE EPISODE NEXT WEEK? _**KANIACS FOREVER**_! *ahem* Sorry. Haha, Enjoy! -pj

**Disclaimer**: Some dialogue from the episode is in this and has been altered. Please don't sue me. I couldn't even afford a burger from the McDonald's dollar menu today...

* * *

**Chapter Six– The Double Blind Job  
**

Eliot and Hardison stood in line at the coffee shop around the corner from the office/ Nate's Apartment/ the poker room…whatever, and Hardison felt it was as good a time as any to ask Eliot about Africa.

"So," he pushed his hands deep into his pockets, in feigned nonchalance, "did you have a good time when we were off?"

Eliot shrugged one shoulder, "yeah. Was fine."

Hardison stuck his bottom lip out, nodding, and rocked back on his heels.

"Do anything special?"

Again, Eliot shrugged.

Hardison waited a beat.

"Spend time with anyone special?"

Suddenly Eliot was so in his face Hardison stumbled back a few steps in surprise.

"Spit it out, Hardison." He growled, ignoring the nervous looks the teenage barista and the handful of business types who were sipping their lattes were sending him.

Hardison held up his hands, still smiling like the cat that ate the canary.

"I know you bought two tickets, one was for a woman. The same woman who's computer you used to _buy _said tickets."

"You been spyin' on me, Hardison? You know I hate when you spy on me." Eliot dipped his chin and raised one eyebrow. "Why do you want me to hurt you?" he asked, as if now the situation could not be helped and Eliot was more annoyed than satisfied with the prospect.

"L-look, Eliot," Hardison's smile fell away and he held his hands up again, taking another few steps back. "It's not like that, alright? J-just calm down now, okay? My man? Look, Parker thought something was wrong. She showed up in my apartment, she thought you were gone. I just looked you up to put her mind at ease."

Hardison relaxed some when Eliot's stern cold-blooded-killer look faltered a bit. Eliot felt a bit badly about that, next time he would be sure to leave a note. He didn't like making Parker worry. Not when she finally seemed to be feeling so comfortable with the team.

He sighed and allowed himself to relax more fully. "Who else knows?"

"Just me and Parker," Hardison assured him, returning to his spot beside the hitter, though keeping one eye on him surreptitiously. "She likes secrets."

Eliot almost smiled. "Somethin' wrong with that girl."

"Yeah," Hardison nodded. Something in his tone made Eliot look over at him. And although it went against his better judgment to ask, he did.

"You alright?"

The hacker nodded, answering too quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, fine. She just…I don't know. She's hard to read sometimes."

Eliot snorted. "Sometimes?" He shook his head. He had to give the man credit for even trying with someone as off balance as Parker.

They each grabbed their coffee cups off the counter and started toward the door.

"Hey, Eliot," Hardison called out just before they exited. Eliot turned around.

"I um…I'm happy for you." He nodded, looking serious.

Finally, Eliot allowed himself to smile. And, breifly, an understanding passed between them before he followed Hardison out the door.

oooOOOooo

Eliot ripped his stained shirt off his head, throwing it at the laundry basket in the corner and began rummaging through his dresser for a fresh shirt, his movements still a bit jerky with adrenaline and anger.

He had really wanted that coffee.

And now he really wanted a specific shirt. He knew he'd just done laundry so it had to be here somewhere. He shoved aside plaid and stripes in his quest for the black tee with the skull that had angel wings behind it. The one that Tali always said…

Tali.

Eliot cursed. That was where his shirt was. She liked that one and it was still at her place.

He sighed, reaching for a different shirt, but paused halfway to putting it on as a thought hit him like one of his own brick-wall punches to the chest.

His shirt was at Tali's.

Along with three of his hair-ties, his brown leather jacket, his mint flavored floss and his frying pan.

His stuff was at her place.

He didn't usually do that. He _never _did that.

Eliot finished pulling his shirt on and looked around.

None of Tali's things were at his place. Tali had never _been to_ his place.

Eliot pulled his keys out of his pocket and started for the door, trying to figure out how he felt about the fact that that bothered him.

oooOOOooo

Hardison looked over at Eliot sitting in a _headtodesk _position beside him.

He usually didn't sleep during a job and over time had come to the same conclusion about Eliot, so he didn't wonder about the fact that the hitter was still hanging around. But the aura of despair and defeat that surrounded him was definitely new.

"Eliot. You alright man? Don't tell me Jenifer Pierson is too much for you to handle." He said, a smug grin on his face.

"Dude, we walked the Freedom Trail _twice."_ Eliot said, his voice muffled in his folded arms.

The smile fell off Hardison's face and he leaned a bit closer to Eliot.

"But what about Africa?"

Eliot raised his head, looking confused and Hardison raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Then, suddenly catching his meaning, Eliot rolled his eyes.

"No, man, the _actual _freedom trail."

The frown returned to Hardison's face.

"We took paddle boats to the public garden, shopped on Newbury street, I went to something called the Boston Duck Tour-"

"So you're not cheating on Africa," Hardison clarified.

Eliot scowled, "No, Hardison, I'm not." Though he wasn't entirely sure he _could _cheat on her. It wasn't as if they'd firmly defined...whatever it was between them.

"I'm just gettin' the job done." Eliot dropped his head back to his arms. "And her name's not 'Africa'."

"Oh, I know what her name-" Hardison stopped, hearing the door open, and switched gears easily when he saw Nate enter. "Yo. Information from Hoffman's office confirms that he's still got vials of HT1 in storage…"

oooOOOooo

The job was over. Finally. And, as he usually did, Eliot ended up at Tali's door. It had been almost a two weeks since he'd seen her last and something was _definitely _different.

"Why are you so angry?" Tali asked him. She didn't even have to force her voice to stay neutral. She almost seemed to be laughing at him.

Eliot was not laughing.

"Why are you so calm?" He practically shouted, pacing the entire length of her apartment in long, purposeful strides.

She tilted her head at him and hopped off the counter, coming to stand beside him in her 'living room'.

"Eliot, it's not a big deal," she said calmly and motioned to her face, "it'll be gone in a few days."

"Why is that okay with you? That somebody did that to you." Eliot demanded again, glaring at the dark purple and black bruise, clearly made by a fist, that colored her entire left jaw and cheek.

She stared at him, a look that said she wasn't entirely sure they we're speaking the same language.

"Eliot, do you remember what I told you when we first met?" she didn't wait for him to answer, "guys don't like to hear the word 'no'. I work at a strip club, Eliot, and a dive bar. I don't have a say with the kind of guys I meet. They don't like a woman to speak up for herself and to say '_no'_…you really think this is the first time I've gotten a bruise like this on the job?" She didn't tell him that bruises were not always the worst she came home with. She liked her apartment in tact just the way it was, thankyouverymuch.

Eliot's eyes widened and his fists clenched involuntarily and Tali realized he really _had _thought that.

She shook her head, almost looking like she felt sorry for him.

"Hate to break it to you Angel, but sometimes there is no knight in black armor lurking in the shadows of the alley waiting to save the day." She shrugged one shoulder and shuffled in bare feet over to the refrigerator. Her flirty white tank top fell like a blouse in front, but now that she'd turned around he saw it had only one button in back, leaving the entire expance of caramel brown skin exposed. She bent over to pulled out two beers and Eliot fought to keep his mind on task. He took the unopened one she set beside her to be an invitation.

Eliot took a deep breath, rubbing his hands over his face and into his hair before he appraoched. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Tali turned around in his arms. "I like that you care," she told him quietly. She almost seemed ashamed to admit it.

He shook his head, brushing some of the curls away from her cheek to see the bruise better.

"No." His eyes hardened and he pursed his lips, drawing back over to meet hers. "For not being there."

Tali grew stiff in his arms, pausing with her beer halfway to her mouth. Her eyes flashed with something that made him frown and she wriggled out of his arms, putting some distance between them.

"Eliot…what are we doing here?"

Eliot watched her start to close off to him, confused over the change and started to move toward her. Instantly Tali crossed her arms over her chest and took another step away from him so he made an effort to stay still, keeping his arms down to his sides, nonthreatening.

"What do you mean?"

She smiled in a scared, angry way that made his stomach turn and suddenly her eyes were too bright. "C'mon, Eliot. Let's not insult each other by pretending this is forever. We both know it's not."

"No," Eliot shook his head, why was she talking like that, "I don't know that."

"Really?" she raised her eyebrow in challenge, "because you don't seem like the settling down type to me." She shook her head, looking away, "Guys like you don't stick around with girls like me."

"Oh yeah? And what are guys like me?"

"Handsome. Successful. Confident."

"How do you know I'm successful? Probing to find out what I do for a living again?" He asked playfully, hoping to lighten the somber mood. He didn't want to do this. He liked how they were, what they were, he didn't want it to change.

She smiled again, this one a smile he recognized, but she kept her arms crossed and eyes on the floor. "I see you don't dispute the handsome part."

He just tipped his bottle, relaxing his posture as he subtly moved toward her. "Modesty is just another way to lie. And I got no use for it," he paused a beat, "And what are girls like you?"

"Me?" she shrugged again and Eliot was struck by the striking lack of confidence in her stance, a stark contrast to her usual swagger. Sometimes he thought there was nothing that could shake her. Times like these felt strange. Wrong.

"Lost causes. Damaged goods. "More trouble than they're worth."

She smiled, but it's all bravado and lies. She squared her shoulders and stuck out her chin, turning to look at him.

"Yeah well, I know a thing or two about damaged goods," he said quietly and gave a slight shake of his head to punctuate his point. "And there's no such thing as a lost cause."

Tali's wide, dark brown eyes roamed over Eliot's face, seeing the openness there. That he was probably just as scared as he was about where this was going between them. Where it could end up.

"You're sweet." She said it like it wasn't a compliment, but an unexpected realization. Quickly, the alley where they met flashed in her mind and she smiled, "I wasn't expecting that."

He tilted his head to one side and closed the rest of the distance. His stomach did a small backflip when Tali dropped her arms and allowed him to step closer.

"So what, are we like…dating now?" she asked, almost sarcastic, as if the entire idea was a joke.

Eliot shrugged one shoulder, laughing along. "I don't know."

"And you're really okay with what I do?" She pulled away just slightly, to look him in the eye. "Because I'm not gonna stop."

Eliot sighed, putting his hands on her hips. Truth be told, he wasn't really sure what he thought of what she did. Did he like the fact that she took her clothes off for other men…not really. But, at the end of the day, she was still his.

_Mine, _he reiterated to himself, rubbing his thumbs in circles on the skin above the waist band of her low-rise jeans.

And he could no sooner ask her to stop what she did for work than he could stand her asking him.

"As long as you don't get any more of these," he said finally, his voice hardly above a whisper, and leaned over to lay a feather light kiss on her bruised jaw. He felt Tali shudder with the shock of pleasure and pain that went through her and she put her hands over his, tightening them.

Her eyes fell shut. He was being _so _gentle. Always gentle. And the calluses on his fingertips and knuckles have told her that 'gentle' is not something he is used to. She doesn't know what to make of that.

Slowly, Eliot's hands moved up her back, still moving in those small circles that drove her mad. Tali sighed deeply, letting her head fall back and slid her hands up to his shoulders, then into his hair.

She _loved _his hair.

Then he was kissing her neck, small, feather light kisses that gave too much and not nearly enough. He kissed her chin. Then her cheek above her jaw and her eyebrow.

She smiled, because she knew what he was doing.

"I didn't take you for a tease," she breathed. She felt him pull away and opened her eyes to find him staring back at her, a smirk on his lips.

Then, without warning, his hands slid back to her hips and he hoisted her up onto the counter and he placed himself firmly between her legs.

Tali laughed when he laid kisses along her collar bone, sucking the jumping skin above her pulse point.

She leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Yee-haw, Cowboy."

When Eliot's deep chuckle vibrated against her skin, Tali couldn't help but laugh too.

oooOOOooo

Tali sat up, Eliot's button up shirt draping her slight frame in blue and contrasting nicely with her pink panties. She swung one leg over him to straddle his waist.

Eliot's eyes fluttered open and he sighed, smiling sleepily.

"Hey sexy," he growled, leaning up briefly to kiss her exposed clavicle. Tali smiled, tipping her head so her unruly curls fell over her face and pushed him back down, dragging her nails lightly over his chest.

"Hey." She whispered back. She waited a beat and Eliot's eyes fluttered closed again, his hands lying relaxed against her thighs.

"So, how did you like the Boston Duck Tour?"

Eliot's eyes snapped open to find Tali grinning mischievously at him.

"What?"

She leaned forward to massage his shoulders.

"Relax, Cowboy. One of my girlfriends from the club said she saw you," she tilted her head to one side, "didn't think blondes were your type."

Eliot waited, expecting to see jealousy or anger in her face, but she looked only curious. He raised an eyebrow suspiciously, steadfastly ignoring the slow, circular movements she was starting to make with her hips.

"You're not mad?"

Tali paused in her movements, well aware of the effect she was having on him, and thought a moment.

"Not thrilled about it but…I mean, you _do _remember what I do, right?" She smiled self-depreciatingly, "besides, I know you didn't enjoy it."

Eliot cringed inwardly. "You got that right." He slid his hands up her legs to hook his thumbs into her panties.

"I was thinking of you every moment, by the way."

Tali smiled brightly and looked at him through half lidded eyes, biting her lower lip as his hips began to respond in kind to hers.

"You're incorrigible," she said quietly, "but I do love when you play 'doting boyfriend'."

Eliot's fingers tightened bruisingly on her hips when they jerked suddenly.

"Boyfriend?" he ground out, "that what I am?"

"No," she shook her head slightly, dropping it back, exposing the column of her throat, "I could never have a boyfriend who wouldn't tell me what he did for a living."

Eliot growled, reaching up to grab hold of Tali and rolling them both over until she was pinned beneath him.

"I don't want to argue," he mumbled against the sensitive spot behind her ear.

Tali fisted her hands in his hair. "Neither do I. Just wanna know why you won't tell me _anything _about you outside this apartment.

Eliot's movements stopped completely and Tali practically whimpered in response.

She opened her eyes to find him looking down at her seriously.

"Let it go, Tali."

She stared into his eyes for several seconds, then pulled away. Eliot watched her roll over to sit on the edge of the bed, taking a few deep breaths.

"I think you should go." She said quietly. She kept her back to him and removed his shirt, replacing it with one of her own.

"Tali," he began but stopped when she turned to face him, a small, sad smile on her lips. She tossed him his shirt.

"I'll be here the next time you decide to show up, Cowboy."

She got up and went to the bathroom, pausing just outside the door.

"Try not to get blood on the carpet next time," she murmered, before shutting the door quietly behind her.

He heard the lock slide into place.

Eliot blew out a breath and rubbed his face roughly. Then, cursing under his breath, he gathered his things and left.

_TBC_


	7. The Studio Job, pt1

**A/N**: So I'm sittin' there, watching what was quickly becoming my all time favorite ep, thinking to myself. 'Well, pj, you got your wish. Eliot's got an effing girl. NOW WTF are you gonna do?' Haha. Well, then it hit me, while I was driving, and I started writing this (once I got home). You know the song Making Circles? (hahahaha, of COURSE you do) And you know how it's sort of the title and the lyrics really didn't fit so far? Well...it's all starting to come together...Enjoy! -pj

* * *

**Chapter Seven - The Studio Job, Part One**

Tali tossed and turned for three hours before finally giving up on sleep. She blew out a long breath and sat forward on the edge of her mattress, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She swung her legs over to the side and stood, the red plaid shirt she wore draping her slight figure and she clutched the ends of the sleeves in her fists.

A glance at the clock confirmed the late hour and she pulled open her light-blocking black drapes, bathing the room in sunlight.

"Hello noonday sun. Long time no see," she grumbled scowling at the blue sky, and turned to walk to the kitchen, the cool tile shocking her bare feet.

She put some coffee on and pulled herself up onto the counter, watching cars' reflections in the windows of the buildings across the street.

Absently, Tali raised a hand to her nose, smelling the fabric of the shirt.

It still smelled like him.

No wonder she couldn't get any sleep.

It had been nine days since she last saw Eliot. If she was honest with herself, which she tried only to do when absolutely necessary, she was beginning to wonder if he was ever coming back. Which was stupid, of course, because he'd gone more than a month between seeing her before and it wasn't as if they'd had some huge fight and said horrible can't-ever-take-that-back things to each other. They hadn't even raised their voices.

But he'd never left without saying 'goodbye' before, even if it was just to slip a note into her hand while she slept.

She'd never been the one to put the wall between them before either. She was the one who'd locked the bathroom door, afterall.

That was what had her stomach all in knots.

She closed her eyes and dropped her head back to bang against the cabinets.

"Si se mete con un hombre, se mete con problemas," she recited softly to herself, listening to the coffee pot gurgle beside her, the aroma slowly filling the room. "You were right, mama."

It had been nine days and she hadn't slept properly even once. She was tired and achy and cranky, she was pushing her luck with her boss at the club with her snippy comments and the boys at the bar were steering clear of her at all costs.

"Wonder what he would do if he showed up and I wasn't here to ice his pretty little head," she grumbled, jumping down from the counter and pouring herself a mug of coffee, "bet that would be a trip, eh Cowboy?"

She shook her head, wrapping her long fingers around her mug and went over to settle into her couch, pulling the afghan off the back to cover her bare legs. She stared at the sunlight streaming across her hardwood floors while she sipped her drink slowly.

"Big dummy."

Tali bit her lip, wanting to feel spiteful instead of sad, which was much closer to accurate, and frowned at the brown liquid as if it could provide the answers she was looking for. She was pulled out of her musings by her phone vibrating on the coffee table.

She frowned, not recognizing the number, or the 901 area code.

"Hello?"

There were distant voices and ringing phones on the other end, punctuated by a quiet sniffling noise that was closer to the receiver.

_"H-hello? Tali?"_

Tali straightened, her shirt falling off one shoulder as she refocused all her attention on the vaguely familiar voice.

"Yeah. Who is this?"

The voice made a noise that might have been a relieved laugh or an exhausted sob. Either way, Tali's internal alarm bells were going off like crazy.

_"Oh my God, Tali. It's so good to hear your voice. It's Kaye Lynn."_

Immediately recognition dawned and Tali set aside her coffee, jumping to her feet and bouncing on her toes.

"Lynnie! What's going on? Are you crying? Are you okay?" She fired off the questions without pause for answer. She hadn't heard from the girl in nearly a year and tears from what sounded like a hospital was not what she expected from their first conversation after all that time.

_"I-I'm okay…it's John. God…his hands, Tali, I just…" _she broke off crying and Tali was already searching her drawers for a pair of jeans.

_"Please Tal, can you come to Memphis?…I-I just can't be alone right now."_

Tali slipped on a pair of flip-flops and ran to her closet.

"I'll be on the next flight."

oooOOOooo

_~Uh-who exactly did you just refer to as baby?~ _

_~It's like the universal term for baby-how _old_ are you?" _

Eliot growled again, low in his throat and pulled his com out. His nerves were frayed enough as it was without Hardison's ridiculous banter in his ear.

And Eliot Spencer did not _do _frayed nerves.

"Hey." Parker reached out and touched his arm, and Eliot barely restrained himself from reflexively breaking her fingers.

Okay. He didn't _usually _do frayed nerves.

"What Parker?" He snapped. He glanced at her hand and saw she'd also taken her com out.

"Is everything okay with you and your girlfriend?"

"I'm-what?" He wrinkled his nose, glancing around, "what has that got to do with anything?"

She shrugged one shoulder, flipping her hair off it absently.

"Maybe you wouldn't be so nervous if you pretended she was here."

Eliot closed his eyes briefly. His _thing _with Tali had been complicated at best before. He hadn't even spoken to her since their…it wasn't even heated enough to call an argument. Still. He hadn't gotten a good hour's sleep since storming out of her place that day.

"Somehow, Parker, I don't think that'll help."

Parker tilted her head, watching Eliot stalk off into the darkness, his shoulders just as tense and square as before. She shrugged, pushing her com back in.

"Couldn't hurt."

oooOOOooo

She moved quickly, but he could've stopped her if he wanted.

But he didn't really want to.

She smelled like clean clothes and leather, it reminded him of home a little bit. Just like her thick southern drawl and girl-next door persona. The vulnerability and doubt tinged with fury that he found almost magnetic.

And then she was standing there between his legs, pressed against him and she seemed so pure of intention he couldn't help but stare down at her while she walked his fingers through the chords of the song.

Her hair smelled like coconuts.

Her small hands were callused on the fingertips from years spent on guitar strings, not soft and manicured like Tali's.

It wasn't that he liked Kaye Lynn's hands better, she was just…different. Comforting, calming for his nerves.

He enjoyed it more than he should have.

oooOOOooo

Parker turned to Hardison, still giving dismayed looks to his computer.

"You think he's thinking of her?"

He furrowed his brows, glancing at her briefly, fingers flying over the keys.

"Who?"

Parker sighed and smacked him on the shoulder.

"Eliot," she motioned out toward the stage, "you think he's thinking about the girl? The one from Africa?"

"Tallahassee."

"That's Florida."

"No, that's her name," he saw Parker's blank look out of the corner of his eye, "the girl from Africa. Her name is Tallahassee."

The thief wrinkled her nose. "Weird name."

She turned back to staring out the viewing window.

"I think they had a fight." She crossed her arms, shifting uncomfortably. Hardison only grunted, she knew he wasn't really listening but she kept talking anyway. "I think Eliot screwed up with this Florida girl and he wrote this song for her."

"Our clients wrote this song, Parker."

She sniffed and glared at him. "I know that," she said, impatient with his misunderstanding, "but it's written from a broken heart."

Eliot was finishing up now, too much emotion pouring into the song for it not to be real. She tightened her arms around herself and shifted minutely closer to Hardison.

"And who's more broken than Eliot?"

oooOOOooo

Eliot practically ran off stage when the song was over and didn't breathe until he'd shut the door behind him in the dressing room.

His heart hadn't pounded this fast since the first time he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

He smiled nervously, at Kaye Lynn.

"How'd I do?"

His stomach unclenched and all the tension poured out of his body when she smiled.

"That was amazin'." She threw her arms around him and Eliot laughed, more relieved than he'd thought he'd be and returned her hug.

He'd never had a con fall on his shoulders like this before. Usually it was Sophie's performance whom the clients' every hope and dream hinged on, or Nate. But not Eliot. Eliot was the enforcer. The muscle. He retrieved and he hit but he didn't sing.

And for Kaye Lynn, this song had been _so much more _than a song. It was the last thing John ever played on his beloved guitar. The last song they would write together. It was her childhood dreams, her whole future.

She'd entrusted all of that to him and he'd just wanted to do right by her. Do her proud.

And she was.

He was excited. Happy she was happy. There had been a time, a long time ago, when he'd understood the way she felt right then. The excitement, the fear.

She'd wanted to share it with someone, and after walking off that stage, a part of him felt like he deserved to be that someone.

It wasn't like she'd pressured him. Kaye Lynn, he'd come to realize, didn't know how to be anything other than completely honest and sincere.

And for a moment it was nice to get swept away.

Eliot wasn't used to monogamy. He wasn't totally certain Tali expected that from him.

When she started to lean toward him he'd reflexively returned the gesture, his hands tightening around her back, dipping his chin to meet her lips.

Old habits are hard to break…but he could have tried harder.

_TBC - Part Two will be up tomorrow or so.  
_


	8. The Studio Job, pt2

**A/N**: I've really got to stop updating at 1am. I can barely see straight. Thanks so so so much for the reviews, they really keep me going. Thanks for everyone interested and reading this fic, I hope you aren't disappointed (again, 1am people! lol). Luv you all! Enjoy! -pj

* * *

**Chapter Eight - The Studio Job, Part Two**

Eliot sighed and rubbed his eyes, pacing his hotel room with his cell phone pressed to his ear.

"Uh, yeah hi," he sputtered when the mechanical beep sounded unexpectedly in his ear. "Tali, it's me, Eliot. I just, uh, was just callin' to…uh," he trailed off. He wasn't actually entirely sure why he was calling.

Other than the overpowering guilt pressing against his chest and keeping him awake even though he really wanted to sleep. And that little voice inside of him saying he had nothing to feel guilty about because he and Tali weren't anything specific and she hadn't even cared about the whole thing with Jennifer Pierson.

And the other little voice saying that was a load of crap.

"Just callin' to call," he chuckled nervously and looked at the floor, "so…yeah. Um…bye."

He pulled the phone away and pressed the 'end' button with much more pressure than necessary, growling as he did so. "Smooth. Eliot. Real smooth."

"Actually I thought it was pretty bad."

Eliot whirled around, startled by having another presence in the room and found Parker sitting on his bed, her feet propped up on the wall behind the headboard.

"Dammit Parker."

Ignoring his anger, Parker rolled over to sit upright.

"That's the second time I've snuck up on you today."

Eliot clenched his teeth, turning to rummage through his bag so he wouldn't have to look at her. "Yeah. Whatever."

Parker tilted her head at him and waited a moment, but Eliot didn't turn around and kept cursing under his breath and muttering while he shoved things around in his bag like some kind of tiny scavenger hunt. Sliding off the bed, she made for the door. Contrary to popular opinion, Parker could take a hint. And Eliot was broadcasting loud and clear that he wanted to be alone.

"Hey Eliot," she turned back at the door and he looked over at her, his hair falling into his eyes.

She was gone except for her head, which she'd poked back inside long enough to leave parting words.

"There's a new moon shining through your window." She shrugged a shoulder, "maybe she's thinking of you too."

And with that, the thief was gone. Eliot closed his eyes, his shoulders drooping heavily and he let his head fall into his hands.

"Dammit."

oooOOOooo

Tali dropped into the booth across from Kaye Lynn, yawning wide.

The blonde smiled genially at her friend. "Still not gettin' any sleep?"

Tali shrugged, pushing her hair out of her face and nodded her thanks when the waitress brought her an orange juice.

"Doesn't help that the damn sun is shining all the time. What's 'brunch' anyway?"

Kaye Lynn grinned. "Well, most of the world enjoys that 'damn sun'. It's called 'daytime'. And this is brunch."

Kaye Lynn gave a bright grin to the middle aged waitress who put a plate of pancakes, bacon and eggs in front of them both.

"Can I have a coffee please?" Tali smiled politely and turned back to her friend. "It's called 'overrated'." Tali shook her head with a scowl and shifted to pull her jean miniskirt down a bit and crossed her legs. She inhaled the aroma of the food and suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for the eggs Eliot liked to make her when he stayed over.

She took an experimental bite and sighed, disappointed.

Not the same.

Tali tilted her head, taking in Kaye Lynn's rosy cheeks and the perpetual small smile on the corners of her mouth.

"You look a lot better, John doing okay?"

Kaye Lynn nodded, pouring syrup over her food.

"He's in good spirits. His hands still hurt him a lot though," the smile faltered at that and Tali nodded, looking away while the waitress poured her coffee. She waited until the woman had gone again before continuing.

"So what's the occasion?" She made a motion at the heaping portions of food in front of them. She was glad to see Kaye Lynn smile brighten again and this time returned it with a smile of her own.

But, instead of saying anything, Kaye Lynn merely reached down and pulled a white envelope out of her purse, sliding it across the table to Tali.

"What's this?"

"Open it." Kaye Lynn was practically bouncing. Tali gave her a hesitant smile, but indulged the other woman and slipped the lip out of the envelope to peek inside.

She nearly choked on her eggs.

"Holy-" she gasped, dropping the envelope into her lap and picking it back up again, "where'd you get this?" She whispered incredulously, shoving the envelope full of money back into Kaye Lynn's hands.

"From those people I told you about. The one's that're helpin' me and John take Kirkwood down?" She put the envelope back in her purse and pushed her hair behind her ears. Both women were leaning across the diner table as if high school girls sharing prom night secrets, keeping their voices low and eyes locked on each other.

"They're…well they're conning 'im into thinking he's got this huge act on his hands and he's paying them hand over fist to get to it first," she shrugged, looking a bit guilty, "I know it's wrong that they're lyin' to him and everythang but-"

"But who cares," Tali interrupted, and reached over to put her hand over Kaye Lynn's, her dark skin, laden with silver bracelets and rings on three fingers lay in stark contrast to her friend's pale, naked one. "They're getting you your money back. That's the important thing. Justice is justice."

Kaye Lynn nodded, then dropped her voice even further. "There's something else."

Tali's eyes sparkled with mischief and she slid out of her seat to get into the booth beside her.

"Spill."

"Tali, I met a guy."

"Really?"

"Yeah, God, Tals he's _so _cute. And sweet and sincere," she sighed and Tali leaned back in the booth, her silver earrings jangling loudly with the movement, watching her friend's eyes defocus in a lusty haze.

"Lynnie, you're always falling for some guy or another."

"But not like this guy…he's different. Just a different kind of guy. Strong silent type, you know? Makes you wanna be the one he tells all his secrets to. And a great kisser. Great…everything. You know?"

Tali nodded. Oh yeah, she knew the type.

And just the thought of him was putting her stomach in knots.

Tali hadn't realized how long they'd been lost in thought until Kaye Lynn leaned over and nudged her with her shoulder.

"What about you? Anyone special?"

Tali raised an eyebrow with a rueful grin, sliding back over to her side of the booth.

"What makes you ask that?"

Kaye Lynn shrugged, digging back into her food.

"There's gotta be something keepin' you in Boston. And I know it isn't the job market."

Tali rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm bartending now. Hours suck just as bad but I have the bonus of not having men's hands down my panties," she flashed a grin and Kaye Lynn's shoulders dropped.

"Oh Tal. Why don't you come down here? With me and John?" She moved her head until she caught Tali's wayward gaze.

"Lynnie…"

"I mean it. Look, you don't have a big brother to get you out of the life like I did, okay? I get that. But you have me," she held Tali's gaze and raised her eyebrows. "So I ask you again, what's keeping you in Boston?"

Tali smiled softly, breaking her bacon into pieces and pushing them into the yellow puddles of egg yolk. She shrugged.

"I might've met someone."

Kaye Lynn's grin turned megawatt.

"Might've?"

Tali dropped her hands and set out to destroy her napkin in much the same manner as the bacon. She tossed her head back, her hair flying out of her face.

"Yeah well," she shrugged again, "I don't know. The sex is great."

Kaye Lynn snorted, shaking her head, "you can have sex anywhere."

Tali got a devilish grin, "tell me about it."

Kaye Lynn kicked her under the table. "Behave yourself, this is the South."

Tali rolled her eyes and sat forward, staring into the swirling colors of creamer in her coffee.

"This guy though he's…I don't know what he is," she sighed, "I don't know what _this _is. It's passionate and hot one second, the next it's scary and unpredictable. It's the most irritating and enjoyable and complicated relationship I've ever been in."

She felt her friend's eyes on her and looked up, Kaye Lynn's smile had turned soft and knowing.

"Worth stickin' around for?" she asked quietly.

Tali thought a moment, her eyes flickering out the window, where they landed on an old, grey Chevy truck that looked a lot like Eliot's.

She looked back and nodded. "Yeah…I think so."

oooOOOooo

Eliot smiled and Kaye Lynn took a step closer.

"We could be the next Johnny and June," she said quietly, leaning into him, one hand on his chest.

Eliot fought not to feel enclosed by the gesture and placed his hands on her arms gently, keeping her from getting any closer. Kaye Lynn gave him a confused look and Eliot smiled apologetically.

He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, and as he pulled away he took a step back.

"Some roads you start goin' down and you can't go back." He said, by way of explanation. "I'm about a hundred miles down one a those." He pushed his hands down into his pockets with a small shrug and an embarrassed little smile. "With someone that I care about."

Kaye Lynn tilted her head, studying him for a moment, then gave him a short nod.

"Lucky lady." She gave him a disappointed smile and squeezed his hand, only to let go reluctantly a moment later, her attention was diverted away by a group of A&Rs. She held his eyes for a moment longer mouthing the word 'bye' and turned away in a flurry of bright smiles and laughter.

Eliot sighed and joined his team to leave.

His pleasant mood sufficiently dampened by a young woman who 'wanted to know the time' - whatever that was about - Eliot was stalking through the crowed toward the door, team in tow, when he heard Kaye Lynn's voice again.

"Oh, oh Eliot! Guys."

They all stopped and turned around as one, seeing Kaye Lynn approaching, dragging a slight figure with flopping curly hair behind her.

"Nate. Everybody," Kaye Lynn drawled, coming to a stop, "I can't thank you enough for everything. Really. And I wanted to introduce you to someone." She turned to look at the woman beside her, who was downing a glass of wine and taking in the country atmosphere with curious dark eyes.

Finally, she turned her attention to the group and Eliot gasped almost audibly.

"Everybody, this is Tallahassee Reyes. Tali, this is Hardison, Sophie, Parker, Nate and Eliot," she pointed to each of them in turn. After naming Eliot Tali opened her mouth as if to speak, but stopped when Kaye Lynn pulled her close for a low whisper, "he's the one I was tellin' you about."

Tali's stiffened, her knuckles turned white around her glass.

"Very nice to meet you all." She said smiling tightly, addressing the group, but her eyes stayed firmly on Eliot.

Kaye Lynn smiled brightly, oblivious to her friend's demeanor change.

"Tal and I have been friends for years and she flew straight down here from Boston to be with me when she heard about John. And it was just-"

Hardison and Parker were both trying to split their attention between Tali and Eliot, eyes bouncing as if watching an intense tennis match. Nate looked suspicious and Sophie's eyes were narrowed, the wheels in her head almost visible as she assembled the pieces.

"Um, Lynn," Tali turned to her friend, squeezing her hand and then letting go to take a step back. "I've gotta go, okay?"

"Oh-okay," Kaye Lynn looked as confused as Nate, "will I see you tomorrow?"

Tali raised her hand in a vague answer and disappeared into the who's who crowd of country brass.

Parker was the only one near enough to hear Eliot let out a small growl.

"Tali! Tali wait," Eliot called out, and took off after her. Before Kaye Lynn could ask what was happening she was snagged by another country music exec and turned away, leaving the team to themselves.

"Hardison, Parker, anything you'd like us to know?" Nate asked, pushing his black cowboy hat back slightly on his brow.

"Uh-um, us? No," Hardison shook his head, shrugging, "I don't, um…nope 'cause we-"

"Eliot's dating that girl," Parker blurted out suddenly, standing stiff as a board.

Hardison's head whipped over to her and he threw his hands in the air in the universal sign for 'I give up'. Nate's eyes widened and Sophie got satisfied, secretive smile on her face.

Hardison sighed and looked wearily in the direction Eliot had gone.

"At least he _was._"

oooOOOooo

Tali pursed her lips and forced a deep breath down into her lungs. She hadn't stopped running until she'd gotten out of the club, across the parking lot and road, and into the old, forgotten park across the street.

She dropped into one of the rusty old swings, facing the darkened woods, leaving the lone streetlight and the loud music of the club behind her for the soft songs of a thousand bug choruses to fill in.

His boots crunched in the gravel as he approached a moment later, but she didn't say anything. The wind picked up a bit and the faint smell of shampoo and gasoline swept over her, causing a few of the tears she was fighting to drop from her lashes.

She sniffed and reached up to wipe her eyes, shrugging into her red leather jacket as much as the restrictive garment would allow.

Eliot approached slowly, almost afraid she would get spooked and run like a week old filly if he came at her too fast. He sighed, hearing the unmistakable sound of someone her fighting tears and noted the hunched set of her shoulders.

Her jeans rode low in back, her button up top riding up to expose a small heart tattoo and the lower tip of the thin scar he'd mapped with his lips less than two weeks before. The chains of the swing squeaked in time with her movements as she rocked back and forth.

He sat in the swing beside her, facing the opposite direction.

The silence dragged on for several minutes, the darkness providing a curtain of protection from the things neither wanted to face. The sound of a car door slamming at the club across the street finally pushed Tali out of her thoughts and she sighed.

Gripping the chains of her swing in tight fists, she dug the toe of her black boots into the dirt.

"You gonna say something?"

Eliot cleared his throat, but his voice still came out in a whisper. "What should I say?"

Tali tilted her head back slightly in a vain attempt to not allow the tears to flow and laughed bitterly.

"Say I have no right to be upset. Say this is just as much my fault as it is yours," her voice shook slightly but she continued without pause.

"Tell me I did this, by pushing you further than you were willing to go I ended up pushing you to her. Say I take my clothes off and get groped for a living so how can I be upset with you for being with someone else? That this thing between us defies definition so you can screw whoever you want."

Eliot is sure he doesn't hear anger or bitterness in her tone, but can't for the life of him figure out what he _is _hearing.

Suddenly Tali stood up, taking a few steps away as if to return to the club, but stopped. Eliot watched her battle for control, and when she turned around to face him the running mascara and red eyes told him she'd lost.

"Why would I say any of that?" he asked quietly.

"Because it's true!"

Eliot shook his head, choosing to remain seated. He could see her hands shaking and the way she kept shifting her weight from foot to foot. Ready to run.

And suddenly Eliot realized he didn't want that. What he'd had with Kaye Lynn had been special but…it wasn't like with Tali.

It wasn't enough.

"It's not true."

"Which part?" she demanded, her eyes flashing. Her hair glowed like a halo from the streetlight behind her.

"Because I don't know anymore. You show up at my job, at my house. You breeze in and out of my life whenever you want. You tell me things," her voice cracked and she took a second to swallow hard, but he had the good sense not to interrupt. "Beautiful things. Then, half the time you're gone in the morning before I wake up." She shrugged, shaking her head, some of the fire dying out of her words..

"So _you_ tell _me_, Eliot. What am I supposed to think? Huh? What am _I _supposed to say?"

She stared at him for several minutes and Eliot stayed silent, used to her assessing glares by now. Only this time she didn't give him a small half smile when she was finished. She shifted her eyes quickly to the left and covered her face, taking a moment to breathe.

Just breathe.

"I'm not even upset about the kiss, Eliot. Or anything else that happened between you two."

Eliot frowned, there was a note of finality and despair in her voice that set off alarms in his head and brought him to his feet involuntarily.

"Tali-" he began. She raised her hand to stop him and his stomach sank.

"I'm upset because you made me believe you were different."

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words died in his throat. He knew it was too late for words.

Tali waited a full ten seconds for him to speak, and finally she dropped her gaze and shook her head.

"I told you guys like you don't go for girls like me." she shrugged, as if the entire thing had been out of her hands from the beginning and smiled one of her full-of-teeth grins.

Eliot stayed stock-still, watching her invade his personal space and then come closer, within a breath of him. Watched her eyes flutter closed as she leaned forward, kissing the corner of his mouth. She pulled away slightly and Lilacs, a scent he would forever associate with brown eyes and a Spanish accent, wafted past his nose.

"I don't regret this, you know," she whispered. "You and me."

Eliot blinked down at her, his heart jumping up and into his throat.

"Tali I-"

"Shh." She pressed a slender finger to his lips and shook her head. He raised his hands to her and she took a step back, out of his reach.

She smiled again, shifting onto one foot and shoving her hands into her back pockets, looking sad and small.

It didn't suit her.

"Goodbye Cowboy," she practically whispered, and turned away, walking back toward the club and trying to hide tearstains on her face.

All Eliot could bring himself to do was stare after her, wondering how it had all gone to hell so fast.

_TBC - No worries, I got half a season ahead of me! Now poke that button and tell me whatchu thinkin' masses!  
_


	9. The Gone Fishin' Job

**A/N: **Okay, this chap is 4k words, which is twice as long as I like to post, but I didn't think it worked well being broken up. I really really love hearing your thoughts guys so please drop me a line. I'm worried Tali is too repetitive in this chap, so lemme know what you think. Hugz and CK love to you all! Enjoy! -pj

* * *

**Chapter Nine – The Gone Fishin' Job**

Nate glanced in the rear view mirror, keeping an eye on the three younger members of his team.

Hardison and Parker sat toward the middle on one side. Parker was pressed close to the hacker, giving him concerned looks with her big eyes, frowning at his minimal injuries and talking low. Hardison was milking the attention for all he was worth.

Nate just smiled and shook his head, giving the van extra brake as he made a turn, not wanting to jostle them in the back.

Another glance allowed him to study Eliot a bit more closely.

The hitter had arranged himself at the back of the van staring outside, he'd wrapped a small bandage around his wrist where the cuffs had chafed and had an ice pack pressed to his left shoulder, the lingering injury from the job before had only been aggravated by gallivanting through the woods with Hardison.

Eliot sat almost pressed into the back corner of the van, his head resting against the wall and staring intently out the back window.

Too intently to have been seeing anything and Nate wondered where it was the hitter's mind had traveled to. It wasn't like Eliot not to be aware of what was going on, and Nate had no doubt that he could start singing 'The Hills are Alive' with Hardison on violin accompaniment and Eliot wouldn't blink.

Nate frowned. Not since the job Hardison brought them, the one with the staged high school Reunion, had Eliot seemed so…distant.

He glanced again at Parker and Hardison, huddled into each other speaking softly so as not to be overheard. He looked over at Sophie sitting beside him in the cab. Her eyes were closed, resting from the exhaustion of worrying about the boys, but her arms was accidentally on purpose brushing against his on the console between their seats.

He looked at Eliot again, and watched as he clenched his teeth and sighed, letting his eyes fall closed.

Nate recognized that look.

He'd seen it on himself in the mirror many times.

Specifically, every time he screwed up and drove the woman he loved out the door.

oooOOOooo

Nate glanced around the bar as he settled himself on a stool. It wasn't his typical type of place. A few too many bikers and pool tables for his tastes.

It made him feel old.

But Hardison's information was rarely mistaken.

And this place certainly _felt _like Eliot.

"You're new around here."

Nate brought his gaze away from the small fuzzy television showing a replay of the days' earlier game, and smiled politely at the young woman behind the counter.

"What can I get you?"

She wore a black tank top under a pinstripe blue vest and her blue eye shadow to match.

"Jameson. Neat."

Her dark lips spread in an obliging smile and she reached for the glasses and a bottle on the shelf behind her.

The woman had pulled her thick curly hair back in a hasty ponytail, evidenced by the wayward pieces dangling around her face and ears and she flipped them out of her eyes as she made his order. And between that and the caramel colored skin, Nate had no problem recognizing her as the same woman Eliot had chased out of the club in Memphis two jobs ago.

Tali set the shot glass in front of Nate and turned to walk away and leave him in peace. But the sound of a voice, weathered and rough from years spent with a whiskey companion made her stop.

"He isn't the same without you, you know."

She frowned and hesitantly looked back, trying to place the face, or the voice.

"Do I know you?"

Nate smiled down at his drink and then downed it all at once. "My name's Nate Ford. You know one of my business associates. Eliot."

Tali's entire demeanor changed and she straightened slightly, her face smoothing into a mask. She pursed her lips, not wanting to reveal how much it hurt to hear his name.

And if Nate noticed the brief show of emotion that crossed her eyes he had the good sense not to dwell on it_. _

Wordlessly, Tali took Nate's empty shot glass and refilled it with the bottle still gripped too-tightly in her hand.

"Oh, than-"

In the same motion Tali lifted the glass to her lips and downed it, wincing slightly when the harsh alcohol burned her throat.

Nate cleared his throat, "Eliot said you were feisty."

She put the glass back down and flattened her palms on the bar, staring down into the empty glass.

"And what else did Eliot say?"

Nate tilted his head, noting with interest that she was trying very hard to look casual. And failing miserably, at least to someone trained to notice stress indicators like white knuckles and stiff shoulders.

"You could go see him," he said with a small shrug, feigning nonchalance much better than she, "find out for yourself."

Tali lifted her head and smiled a well practiced, predatory smirk. Just because her heart was pounding and her head hurt, didn't mean he had to know that.

"Pass." Tali said quietly and pushed away from the counter as if to walk away. But she stopped after only a few steps, keeping her back to him.

"How is he?" she asked in spite of herself, because she knew she shouldn't care but…she did all the same.

Nate cleared his throat again.

"Mostly he's okay. A little banged up, you know, from the last job, though."

This made Tali's eyes snap over to him.

"Banged up?" Briefly the memory of a dozen times Eliot had shown up at her door with injuries both obvious and concealed, flashed through Tali's mind and made her stomach hurt, "What kind of job was it?"

Nate furrowed his brow slightly, tilting his head. "He never told you, did he?"

"Told me?" She smiled again, and it almost looked sad, though Nate couldn't be sure since she wasn't facing him entirely. Tali focused on picking at a sticky spot on the counter instead of looking at Nate. "Eliot Spencer…trying to get him to talk is like getting water from a rock. Takes a miracle." She shook her head, and looked up at him.

"He would never tell me anything. Could never come up with a good reason not to either."

Nate turned his empty glass around in his fingers, studying the reflections of a neon Bud Light sign in the glass. "Eliot always has a reason."

Tali sighed and shook her head, jutting out her chin. Nate could see the moment of vulnerability was gone, replaced by a wall of confidence tempered with warmth that suited her much better.

"You call me if you need anything else, Mr. Ford," she nodded at his glass and then turned to walk to the other end of the bar.

When returned a few minutes later Nate's empty glass sat on the counter where he had been, holding down a twenty dollar bill and a napkin with a note on it.

_'In case you change your mind' 555-9237_

She reached out to pick it up and steadfastly ignored the fact that her hand was shaking.

"Everything alright Tal?" Someone called from across the room and Tali jumped, startled, crumpling the napkin into her pocket. She smiled at a waitress with unnaturally red hair.

"Yeah, Jen, fine."

"Alright then," the girl raised her eyebrows. "Then can I get a couple a Bloody Marys please?"

Tali looked back over to the door where she could just barely see a man with dark curly hair and a black jacket disappearing outside.

"Yeah," Tali whispered to herself, "I'll get right on that."

oooOOOooo

Hardison bounced slightly on his toes, stretched his right arm with his left and vice versa. He stretched his neck and clapped his hands.

"Okay," he muttered to himself, "lets do this."

Just as he raised his fist to knock on the metal door, a voice caught his attention from down the hall.

"Can I help you?"

The hacker turned to look and saw a woman, about his height, skin a bit lighter complextion than him, coming down the hall in a white tank top and jean short shorts.

And _damn _if the girls legs didn't go for miles.

"Um," Hardison closed his eyes briefly and shook his head. Eliot would kill him if he knew what he'd just been thinking.

"Tallahassee?"

She continued to approach slowly, shifting her laundry basket against her hip and used one hand to push her wild hair out of her face.

"Tali," she corrected, looking him up and down. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alec Hardison I-"

"One of Eliot's friends," she nodded, continuing her trek to her front door, avoiding his gaze, "Kaye Lynn introduced us. I remember."

He stepped aside to allow her access to her front door and waited while she put the basket of clothes down inside and returned to the door, wedging herself in the opening.

She raised her eyebrows. "So…are you here for a reason, Alec Hardison?"

He cleared his throat and nodded.

"Yeah…" he shifted uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck.

Tali fixed him with an impatient look.

"My clothes are getting wrinkly."

"I came to say you should give him another chance." He blurted out, then shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Tali blinked.

"Okay," She smiled brightly and started to shut the door, but Hardison knew a blow off when he saw one.

He stuck his hand out, pushing the door back open.

Tali's bright smile faded instantly and she glared at him.

"Is there something else?"

Hardison huffed, getting frustrated. Of course Eliot wouldn't fall for someone with an easy going, non-volatile personality.

"He's not the same without you. He needs you."

Her expression remained unchanged and she leaned up against the doorframe, arms folded across her chest. "Uh-huh."

"And…I think you need him too."

Tali scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"You don't even know me," she shook her head and started to close the door again and again, Hardison's hand shot out to stop it.

"Let go." She warned quietly, letting go of the knob and inching her hand toward the bat she kept behind the door.

"Please, please look just-just hear me out." Hardison paused to collect his thoughts, knowing the more frantic he got, the more nervous Tali would be. He took a step back, putting his hands up to keep them visible and, to his relief, she didn't slam the door in his face.

"I don't know you, you're right. But I know Eliot. The man's like a brother to me, he just saved our asses from some crazy white supremacist militia in the forest with some kinda tricks he learned with a dead guy I know," he paused and took a deep breath, shaking his head at Tali's confused look, "look, the point is… I…you should just…just call him up. Please."

Tali looked at the floor for a few seconds and Hardison waited, the silence between them long past awkward. When she looked back up again he was startled by the raw emotion on her face.

"We had a good run of it, Alec," she shrugged, "sometimes…that's all you get. Its best we just…move on. Both of us."

"But Tali-"

"_No_," she shook her head, her voice raising slightly as the sadness mixed with anger and frustration got the better of her. "Look, if he wants me back as badly as you say…why are you the one standing here? Why isn't _he _here?"

Hardison shrugged one shoulder. "That's not Eliot. He doesn't do that kinda thing."

"Well maybe he should." She practically shouted, anger and hurt vying for dominance in her eyes. She didn't want to talk about this anymore.

"I'm tired of being the one who always reaches out. I didn't keep any secrets from him. I was straight with him _all the time_. Always. He wasn't with me. And that's fine, I'm not going to fault him for wanting his privacy but I'm not gonna go crawling back to him either." She swallowed hard and Hardison had the grace to ignore the unnatural brightness of her eyes.

"He needs to figure out what he wants," she began again, calmer, "and if it's someone else…that's fine. I hope he's happy, I really do."

She stopped and Hardison studied her face a moment. He could tell she meant that, and that it confused her. Like she wasn't sure if she had the right to want him back.

It reminded him of Parker when she was trying to deny being jealous.

"And if what he wants is you?" He asked quietly.

Tali bit her lip.

"if it's me… he knows where to find me."

With that she shut the door and this time, Hardison didn't try to stop her.

oooOOOooo

Sophie turned to look at Eliot. They were alone for the first time since finishing the job, Nate had gone to bed and Parker had gone to take one of her post-job eighteen hour naps and Hardison…she wasn't totally certain where Hardison had gone.

Eliot was sprawled out on Nate's couch with a beer, staring through the television and whatever sports channel he had landed on. Sophie sipped her wine thoughtfully and got up from the table and went to sit down on the arm of the couch near his feet.

Eliot's eyes slid over to her.

"Yeah?" He asked hesitantly. She had that look in her eye. That one she used to get when Nate was drinking on the job.

That was her _I'm gonna fix something_ look.

He hated that look.

Sophie sighed, a sure sign she was revving up for something, and swished the wine around in her glass.

"You remember when Parker bought all those piñatas in Juarez?"

Eliot frowned. That wasn't what he was expecting.

"Remember? Sophie, the damn things are scattered all over the place." He waved a hand at the brightly colored animals, piled in every corner of the office.

"Eliot…love is like those piñatas."

He groaned and threw an arm over his eyes.

"C'mon Sophie not now."

The grifter frowned, batting at his foot.

"Just hear me out a moment, would you?"

Reluctantly, Eliot dropped his arm enough so that he could see her.

"Fine. Make it fast. The game's about to be on."

Sophie stood and took the remote from his limp hand, turning off the television.

"You and I both know you weren't watching that."

He didn't even bother trying to deny it, and instead watched Sophie warily as she paced in front of those screens.

"I know I'm probably the last person that ought to be giving love advice," she paused at Eliot's derisive snort and sent him a short glare, "_but _I have devoted a lot of time and thought to the subject, and this is what I think."

She turned to look at him, satisfied his disdainful look had mellowed to mild irritation.

"A relationship…the forever kind? I think it's like those piñatas. It's locked away inside and you've gotta beat it, stomp on it, sometimes rip their heads off," she gave him a meaningful glare and he smiled slightly. "But once you're though all that hard work and heart ache and you've spent all that effort…it breaks open," she smiled a warm, disarming smile. Her real one, he'd learned, and reached out to touch his hand. "And you get to the good stuff. And that makes it all worthwhile."

Sophie gave his hand one last squeeze and then got up, disappearing through one of the adjoining doors. Eliot waited until she'd gone and opened his hand, looking at the piece of butterscotch candy she'd slipped to him.

"The good stuff."

oooOOOooo

Tali struggled with her purse, keys and two bags of groceries but was finally able to make it through the front door.

She promptly dropped all of it at her feet when she realized the studio wasn't as empty as she'd expected.

"What the-" Tali immediately went for the Louieville Slugger behind her front door. "Who are you?"

Parker gave a genuinely confused look to the bat and wrinkled her nose. "What are you gonna do with that?"

"I'm gonna beat the crap out of you unless you answer my question. Who are you?"

"Parker," she answered, looking unperturbed. "I'm a friend of Eliot's."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me. How many of you people are there?" Tali exclaimed and dropped the bat, apparently no longer seeing the petite thief as a threat and picked up her bags of groceries to take to the counter.

Parker tracked her with her eyes, spinning slowly on the seat at the counter bar.

"So make your case, what do you-" She stopped and narrowed her eyes, "have we met?"

Parker nodded. "Yeah. At that country music thing."

Tali gave her a blank look for several moments before realization dawned.

"Oh. I didn't recognize without the…" she waved her hand vaguely in Parker's direction, "duck."

Parker nodded as if that was something she heard all the time and knocked on the counter with her knuckles.

"I really think you should give him a call."

"I've been hearing that a lot lately."

"Are you going to?"

"Why should I?"

"Because you want him back just as much as he wants you."

Tali clenched her jaw and, suddenly needing an outlet for her energy, started unloading her groceries, muttering to herself as she stomped about the kitchen putting things away.

"Had just about enough of these people telling me what I feel, gente lacra queines se metan in cosas que no les importa."

"Do you realize you just put milk in the pantry?"

Tali cursed and turned around.

"What do you want?" She demanded. Being without him was hard enough without all these 'friends' coming out of the woodwork to remind her of him.

"I want you to call him," Parker responded, sounding as if she was the one who had reason to be impatient.

Tali jutted her chin to one side, drumming her fingers against the counter for several moments.

"You know, I think it's really great that you guys all rally around your friend," her tone was biting and sharp and Parker frowned slightly, growing tense by the unbridled hostility coming off the other woman. "But what does it say about a guy that his friends have to come beg for his girlfriend back?"

Tali started to go back to putting things away but stopped, slamming two cans of Spaghettios on the counter. "And what does it say about his friends that they're all okay with the fact that he slept with another girl?"She demanded, surprising herself with the revelation that that had, in fact, been part of the reason she'd walked away. Her eyes suddenly burned and Tali shook her head, curls flying into her eyes as she turned and walked toward the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her.

She had her face pressed into a towel when she heard a voice behind her and whipped around, surprised to see Parker standing in the doorway.

"You're a stripper. And a prostitute."

Tears forgotten, Tali fought to control her rage as she stalked back over to the door, looking Parker straight in the eyes.

"Not that it's any of your business," she spat through clenched teeth, "but I haven't slept with a man for money since Eliot showed up at my door two and a half months ago." She dipped her chin, nostrils flaring. "Now get out."

Parker blinked, squaring her shoulders and refusing to back down. Unconsciously, her feet spread to shoulder width apart.

"I can't."

"Why? Need help finding the door?" Tali asked, the question every bit a threat as it was a warning.

"No," Parker took a deep breath. "He's burning eggs."

Tali blinked at her and took a half step back. "What?"

Parker huffed, motioning awkwardly with her hands.

"Eliot is a master chef. He can make a chocolate soufflé with his eyes closed. He can mince an entire onion in under a minute without breaking a sweat. But since you two broke up he's burned eggs every time he's tried to make them. He's cut his finger while chopping carrots for soup. I've startled him three times. He can't for the life of him figure out how to make his famous tomato soup and on the last job," Parker broke off and Tali's gaze sharpened. sharpened.

"There's no way Eliot doesn't realize he's got a half dozen guns pointed at him if his focus is where it should be." She sighed, bringing her eyes back up to Tali's. "He needs you."

Tali smiled sadly and shook her head, her anger all but forgotten.

"Nobody needs me Parker."

"That's not true," the theif exploded, "he needs his focus to stay alive and without you he doesn't have it. It's dangerous if Eliot can't focus. Someone could get hurt, maybe even him so you need to get back with him. You need to call."

Tali tilted her head, frowning, "What do you mean he needs his focus to stay alive?"

"Eliot has a dangerous job," Parker said, sounding exasperated. "That's why he never told you. He was trying to protect you."

Tali grew quiet, studying the yellow hand towel she was still gripping in her fingers, processing this.

"Please, just give him a chance."

Tali looked away and turned to go back to the sink.

"Regrets are a waste of time, Parker. They're the past crippling you in the present."

She'd told herself that so many times to make the sadness and fear and anger go away so she could live her life like she thought she should. But the words just didn't seem to ring as true as they used to.

Parker walked up behind Tali to face her in the mirror.

"I agree. So don't let this be one of those things you regret."

Tali closed her eyes and a few moments later could hear soft footsteps making their way out into the apartment, though she couldn't even focus on the fact that she never heard the door open or close.

After several minutes she looked up at herself in the mirror, to find mascara running down her cheeks and her lips trembling uncontrollably.

Slowly Tali backed up against the wall and when she felt the cool tile at her back, she sank down until she was hugging her knees, trying desperately not to cry out loud.

oooOOOooo

Eliot got out of the lawn chair when Hardison caught his fifth fish and met the girls and Nate coming the door.

Hardison frowned as Eliot passed in front of him, never looking away from the screens.

"What are you wearing man?"

"A shirt, Hardison." Eliot grumbled. He noticed Parker staring at him and gave her a confused look.

"No, I mean that smell. Is that perfume?"

"What?" Eliot turned around, "No, man, I ain't wearin' perfume."

"It smells like perfume. It's the same kind Tali wears."

Eliot thought a moment. That did actually make sense. This was Tali's favorite shirt of his, she'd probably worn it a few times and…

Eliot spun around to Hardison, taking the few short steps it required to close the distance between them and leaned down to place his hands on the armrests.

"How would you know that?"

"Um, uh." The hacker stuttered.

"Did you talk to her?"

"Uh…Well, what had happened was-"

Eliot made a noise between a curse and a growl and pushed up. He looked over at Parker who was now giving her cereal the strange staring look she'd been giving him a few moments before.

"Parker," Eliot growled, "what did you do?"

She looked at him and smiled far too wide for the circumstances.

"What do you mean?"

Eliot scowled at her and glanced at Sophie and then Nate, who'd never had that great of a poker face to begin with.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" He practically roared, throwing his hands in the air.

"Look, Eliot, we were just trying to help," Nate said, trying to pacify the irate hitter. He looked at Sophie who put her hands up in surrender.

"Don't look at me. I didn't see her."

Eliot did not seem comforted by the news and he growled.

"You," he thrust a finger toward Nate and then turned and pointed it at Hardison and Parker, "all of you. Stay the hell outta my business. Alright?" he snapped. "You all got your own love issues to deal with. You let _me_ handle _mine_. Got it?" With that Eliot turned, snatched his coat off the chair and stomped to the door, and slammed it shut behind him.

Sophie threw her hands in the air.

"Why didn't you tell me you were holding a lovers' intervention? You know I love those."

oooOOOooo

Eliot leaned against the wall in the hallway outside Nate's apartment. His eyes closed, face upturned, muscles of his jaw clenching and unclenching beneath his skin.

They meant well. He knew that.

With those guys, meaning well was all that mattered.

But Eliot hadn't meant well when he kissed Kaye Lynn. He'd felt like the biggest of hypocrites watching Tali walk away.

_Parker was broken, you understand that? _

_Sophie was a sister. She was a best friend. All rolled into one. _

_Dammit Hardison!_

_My job is to have your back and Nate, I'm gonna do it._

Because Eliot was a protector.

But he hadn't protected the one that meant the most to him.

_You're sweet...I wasn't expecting that._

And he didn't know how to fix it.

_TBC _


	10. The Boost Job

**A/N: **I'm tired, but **_deanangst _**is on the hunt for new fic and I simply must provide. I realized in writing this that this is the first chap I've written where I didn't honestly know where I was going to go with the next chap...lets hope the next episode provides more inspiration...Enjoy! -pj

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**Chapter Ten – The Boost Job**

"Omg Tali I swear to gawd, if Mac keeps having us pull these double shifts I'm gonna end up spraining my pelvis or somethin'." A young brunette, Roxy, with mounds of hair and pale legs that were not quite as long as most of her female coworkers bounced around the small dressing room behind the stage gathering her things.

Tali sat a few feet away at her vanity, elbows propped up on the counter beside rows of makeup and body glitter. She'd already changed into her street clothes and had decided to hang around until it was time to go catch her bus. Her freshly washed face glowed under the bright yellow lights of her vanity and she bit her bottom lip as she ran her thumb reverently over the Marine Corps insignia on her lighter.

"Hmm," was her only response to the other girl's endless chatter.

Roxy's black eyes flicked over at her friend, her brow drawing together briefly at the lack-luster response.

"Did you catch the creepa' at table five?" she continued in that east coast accent no one could ever quite place. It seemed to change every time she spoke.

"Lora said all of his bills smelled like BO and chicken nuggets," She made a noise somewhere between a giggle and a gag and bent over at the waist, carefully untangling the hairpiece she wore from the rest of her natural brown locks.

She groaned as she stood back up, rubbing her hands along her thighs.

"Seriously, no mo' all nighters for me," Roxy shook her head and shimmied out of her black lace getup in favor of a pair of simple cotton panties and a push-up bra. She lifted one dark eyebrow at her friend. "You were here as long as I was, you ain't tired?"

"Uh-hm," Tali blinked a few times, pulling herself from her thoughts, and sighed, stuffing her lighter into her pocket. She reached for a red hair tie and began braiding her unruly curls into a loose plait off to one side, carefully avoiding her friend's penetrating gaze.

Roxy tilted her head and pursed her dark red lips.

"You know, you been pretty out of it for the past few weeks," she commented, approaching Tali's vanity and leaned against it, the red velvet mini-dress she'd slipped on hitched up as she slid back to sit on the countertop, "you still upset about that guy?"

Tali stood and plastered an almost condescending smile on her face.

"A guy?" she slung her bag over her shoulder, "C'mon, Roxy, you know me."

The brunette nodded, "yeah, that's what I'm worried about Tal."

Tali stopped near the door and turned back, the amused look fading into irritation.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Means girls like us don't meet the kind of guys worth giving your heart to, Tali."

Tali sighed, tightening her hold on her bag. "Girls like us?"

Roxy's eyes dropped to her pale leg where a hand shaped bruise peaked out from beneath her short skirt.

"Getting attatched gets you hurt."

"Eliot's not like that, Rox. He wouldn't hurt me." Tali assured her, shaking her head.

Roxy gave her a long look and then shrugged, crossing her legs at the knee.

"It's your life, Tali. I hope you're right about him."

Tali's gaze skittered away, the memory of Eliot's _facehandsvoice_ suddenly too much to bear and she closed her eyes, turning to leave before either of them could say another word.

oooOOOooo

Tali relished in the fresh, cool morning air and inhaled deeply as if she could cleanse her soul with a deep enough breath. Her tennis shoes scuffed softly against the uneven sidewalk and she listened absently for the noises of other people nearby, but the streets seemed utterly deserted, as was to be expected at such an early hour.

Directly overhead it was still a darkish blue black, but near the edges the world was brightening and welcoming in a new day.

She dropped her bag on the bench at the bus stop and contemplated using it for a pillow to catch a quick nap before the bus came, but knew it was probably not light enough for her to be safe letting her guard down that much. Instead she sat down beside it, folding her legs up onto the bench and pulling her hands inside the sleeves of her oversized zip-up hoodie.

Despite her best efforts, her eyes must have closed for a moment, because the sound of a voice _very _nearby had her jumping to her feet with surprise.

"Eliot?"

Tali blinked and quickly rubbed at her eyes, just in case it was a dream. When he remained intact and real, standing a few feet away she forced herself to relax.

"Hey," Eliot responded quietly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Tali waited a few moments, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her low rise jeans and bouncing her eyes around the familiar street, it that somehow looked different in the hazy light of dawn.

"What are you doing here?" She said finally, quietly, so as not to disturb the silence.

A small smile kicked up the corner of Eliot's mouth and he shrugged one shoulder, the worn black leather of his jacket creaking noisily with the movement.

"Lurking."

Tali smiled fully, glancing toward the alley where they'd met only a few feet away.

"You make a bit of a habit of that, don't you?"

Eliot shrugged again.

"Actually I uh, I was waitin' for you." He confessed quietly. Tali looked up at him and held his gaze while the soft breeze coming off the water whipped his hair into his eyes.

Tali swallowed hard as the words danced around inside her head, echoing in the quiet, rough, almost shy way he'd said them. And his eyes, cool and blue and so intense she sometimes feared he could see right though her. They looked black right then, contrasting sharply with the pale, handsome planes of his face.

She wondered briefly what it was Hardison and Parker and Nate had said or done to finally get him to come after her, but in the same moment, decided it didn't matter.

"Been waiting for you too, Cowboy."

Eliot swallowed hard and forced himself to keep still as Tali slowly stepped off the curb and came toward him, stopping just outside his personal space.

She looked about ready to say something and then stopped, frowning .

"What happened to you?" Tali asked, balling her hands at her sides to keep her traitorous fingers from reaching out and caressing the bruises and cuts on his face, "you look like you were hit by a truck."

"A car, actually." He corrected her, chuckling at the sheer absurdity of the memory.

Of _course _there had been a car coming.

Tali started to smile, but it dropped away when she realized he was serious.

"You were hit by a car?"

Eliot sobered and nodded.

"Happened during the last job," He hesitated and Tali waited, watching him closely enough to see the struggle on his face as he forced himself to continue. "I'm…I'm a thief, Tali," he said slowly, pleasantly surprised when her face remained neutral and her body language relaxed.

At least it wasn't an _immediate _rejection.

"I'm a con man. And a hitter. A retrieval specialist," he shrugged again, dropping his eyes to one side, "I'm part of a team that…we try to help people. Thing is, we usually have to break the law to do it."

He waited, but Tali's face never changed. He was expecting judgment, repulsion. Even fear, though that would have hurt the worst. But there was nothing. She didn't move away, and she didn't come closer. She didn't speak and didn't stop staring at him.

It was driving him crazy.

Eliot pulled his hands out of his pockets and stepped up until they were nearly chest to chest.

"I don't want to lie to you, Tali. And I never meant to hurt you. I'm sor-"

Tali reached up and cupped his face, quickly pulling it down until his lips were smashing against hers with bruising force.

Eliot pulled back just enough to speak.

"Tali I'm-"

Again she shut him up by swallowing his words. She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around his neck and kept kissing him, deep and hard, until he stopped trying to get away.

oooOOOooo

Sunlight poured into Tali's small studio apartment. If she were to guess she would say it was nearing noon, but she was feeling surprisingly refreshed for only having slept in quick snatches caught while curled up in Eliot's arms.

_God _she had missed those arms.

Eliot lay with his chin resting on her shoulder, tracing the curves of her body with one callused finger and surprising gentleness. Sometimes she would wiggle or complain of being ticklish and pull away, but for the most part seemed content to let him explore.

She'd seen his bruises earlier, the ones left over from Juarez turning shades of yellow and green as well as the much more recent, deep purple ones he'd got from his Eliot vs. Car encounter earlier that day.

When she'd given him that deeply concerned look he was getting used to seeing he'd merely shrugged and assured her in the best way he could think of.

_'I've had worse.'_

Anyone else would have been immediately upset by the statement. Hell, he could remember more than one fight with Aimee starting with the very same words.

But not Tali.

She'd given him one more concerned look, accepted his assurance and decided she subscribed to the 'kiss it and make it better' school of thought.

Eliot _liked_ that school of thought.

Now, laying beside her, his back growing warm under the rays of the late morning sun, Eliot kept feeling a lingering stab of guilt at the trust she'd so easily bestowed upon him earlier.

Trust that he knew what he was doing. Trust that he had indeed had 'worse' and lived to tell about it.

Trust in _him_.

And Eliot couldn't help but feel that maybe he didn't deserve her trust.

Not yet.

"Tali."

Eliot's warm breath skirted across the skin of her shoulder and she turned her head, then her body to face him, eyes still closed.

He pulled his arm away and used it to prop his head up and Tali whimpered at the loss.

"Look at me." He said, though it came out like a request.

Tali opened her eyes, not expecting the intensity he was projecting in that moment. The way his entire body was tense with seriousness and focused solely on her. She shivered at little at the realization.

"What is it?"

Eliot sighed, reaching out with his free hand to comb some of her curls out of her face.

"I _am_ sorry, Tali."

Eliot saw the barely there glint of something sharp and cloudy that flickered across her eyes, just like every other time when he'd tried to say it.

"Please stop saying that," she whispered, snuggling deeper under the covers and squeezing her eyes shut. "You don't have to be."

"Yes I do." Eliot frowned, frustrated, and pulled the white sheet down so he could see her face. "I'm the one that slept with another girl."

Tali's stomach clenched painfully and she sat up, pulling on the nearest garment, his shirt and pulled away. He was only marginally relieved when she didn't leave the room altogether.

"But I'm the one who wasn't enough for you."

It hurt his ears to hear her say that. Not just because she said it so much louder than they'd been speaking all morning. Not just because where there should have been tears there was acceptance.

But because she seemed to believe it.

"Tali," he said, sitting up to put his hand on her knee, and then up on her face. "Don't you say that. Don't ever think it."

She kept pulled out of his grip and crossed her legs Indian style, rubbing the sheet between her fingers absently.

"Eliot I don't know how to do this." She suddenly whispered so quietly he had to strain to hear her. And when her eyes snapped up to his there was intensity in them that almost hid the fact that there were tears there too. "I don't know how to _be _this."

"Be what, darlin'?" he asked, scooting closer to her, holding her face in his hands and running the pads of his thumbs along her cheeks.

She swallowed hard a few times, keeping her eyes locked on his like they were the last thing anchoring her to the ground.

"How do you do this, Eliot? How do you let yourself be so wrapped up in a person that they can make you feel like flying or make you wish you were dead so easily. How do you reconcile being so dependent on someone without letting it swallow you who?"

Eliot's stomach dropped to his feet and he shifted uncomfortably at the desperate, small tone in her words. Hating that he was the one that put it there.

He pursed his lips, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest and couldn't for the life of him figure out why he felt like he was about to walk into a fight to the death.

"You get used to it," he said finally. "You learn to embrace it."

Tali paused, taking the sheets into her fists so tightly her hands were burning and trembling from the effort.

"Eliot," she hesitated and bit her lip, "you won't hurt me. Right?"

The question knocked the wind out of him. And just as sure as he knew the 'again' would remain unspoken, he knew by the way she was leaning just slightly into his touch that she didn't mean physically.

"No, never," he shook his head to emphasize the point. He didn't miss the irony of the fact that he was now asking her to place the same trust in him that five minutes ago he'd been convinced he didn't deserve.

"Not as long as there's anything I can do to prevent it. I promise."

Tali blinked slowly a few times and Eliot could feel her muscles working in her jaw as she tried to keep her chin from trembling.

"Kiss me, please." She whispered so low he didn't hear it so much as read it on her lips. He hesitated, searching his eyes for something he wasn't sure he would find.

"Please Eliot," she asked again, this time punctuated by a tear dropping onto his hand. "I need you."

Not knowing what else to do, afraid of the look of fear in her eyes, he chased the shadows from her soul the only way he knew how. Confused by the vulnerability surrounding her, he wrapped her slight body in his arms and made love to her until all the doubts and uncertainty and forgiveness faded into oblivion.

_TBC _


	11. The Three Card Monte Job

**A/N: **So here's the update. As always I love to hear that you all still enjoy reading Tali. OCs are such a delicate art, your feedback really helps me make her better (I hope) lol. Also am very glad people are enjoying how their relationship is developing. Yes, there's angst, but there's also fluffyness and tension and hot sexy romance and that all comes with the territory. What _also _comes with the territory is the fact that this fic will undoubtedly get more and more AU as the season progresses. Bear with me. I'm going to keep writing them in tandem with the episodes, but probably be rewriting a few things here and there and...well we'll just see how it all works out. As always, I REALLY love reading your thoughts so Enjoy! -pj**  
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**Chapter Eleven – The Three Card Monte Job**

Nate tossed an ice pack into Eliot's lap as he breezed into the living room and plopped down in one of the black leather chairs, popping the top on a beer and sliding one to sit in front of the hitter.

Eliot picked up ice pack and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's this for?"

Nate sipped his beer, eyes never leaving the tv screens.

"For the giant knot on your head you've been trying to pretend isn't there." He laughed abruptly at the home video taken of a cat falling into a fish tank before adding, "you know you can't stay alone tonight, right?"

Eliot rolled his eyes, and then squeezed them shut. _Bad idea. _

"Dizzy?"

He looked over, but Nate still wasn't looking at him. He glared anyway.

"I'm not a child, Nate. I can take care of myself."

Nate nodded condescendingly, finishing off his beer and opening another.

"You've been tilting to the left all day," Parker appeared beside Eliot with a box of cereal. "Sophie said you nearly pulled her arm out of the socket a couple times at the police station."

"Well I wouldn'ta had that problem if _somebody _hadn't thrown a crowbar at my head," Eliot growled, turning his glare on Parker.

"He's got you there, mama," Hardison added absently from the kitchen table, eyes glued to his computer, still trying to run logistical algorithms to see if he could narrow down which bank was going to be hit the next day. Call him crazy, but he didn't trust Jimmy Ford to just _read in_ his estranged son.

Parker gave them both an affronted look.

"I _said _I was _sorry_."

Eliot grumbled something unintelligible, giving her a look somewhere between a scowl and exasperation, and moved to stand, taking his ice pak with him.

"I'm goin' home, tell Sophie…" he paused and turned back to scan the room. "Where the hell is Sophie?"

oooOOOooo

Tali blew out a long breath and pulled her pack of cigarettes from her pocket as she headed for the door. Eliot hated these things, she knew, he always gave her a dark look when she lit up. Nevermind the fact that he'd bummed a light _and _a cig off her the night they met.

Damn sexy hypocrite.

She opened the door to go outside and was surprised to find someone standing in the hallway.

The woman had long, silky dark hair that framed her face elegantly, a sleek blue jacket and black skinny jeans that ended at knee-high suede boots that Tali didn't think she could even afford to look at.

She cleared her throat, feeling under dressed in her own apartment in nothing but cargo capris and a striped tank top.

The woman smiled congenially as soon as she saw her and in spite of herself Tali felt slightly more at ease.

"Oh, hello there, you must be Tali. I'm-"

"Sophie," she cut in, dropping her cigarettes back into her pocket and leaning against the doorframe, "right?"

"Y-yeah…how did you know?" Sophie asked, surprised. Her dark eyes widened slightly and she tilted her head, revealing shiny gold hoops in her ears.

Tali shrugged one shoulder and reached up to put the cigarette she'd extracted behind her ear.

"The only one of Eliot's team who didn't stalk me after our breakup…thing. What are you doing here? Eliot said you guys were on a job, he doesn't usually…" her eyebrows drew together. "Wait. He's alright, isn't he?"

Sophie hesitated, looking torn. Tali stood up away from the door, ready to bolt.

"What? Is he okay?"

"Well, not entirely, you see something happened earlier and-" Sophie stopped when suddenly Tali had disappeared from the door. Before she got a chance to lean forward and call out the woman appeared again, this time wearing shoes and holding her jacket.

"Take me to him."

oooOOOooo

Eliot tensed immediately when he heard the door to his apartment open, but relaxed again when he heard Sophie's voice.

"Eliot it's me."

He sat up slightly on the bed, indulging in resting against the pillows set up against his headboard when the room tilted. Through his open door he could see someone's shadow on the hallway wall approaching his room.

"Sophie I really don't-" he stopped himself when a curly haird figure draped in an oversized jean jacket entered.

_His _jean jacket.

"You're not Sophie."

"She just opened the door to let me in," Tali gave him a cockeyed grin, "sorry to disappoint."

Eliot relaxed his frown and stopped himself just before he shook his head, the throbbing behind his eyes intensifying just from the thought of it.

"You never disappoint."

Tali smiled, very nearly blushing at the honest comment, while pulling off his jacket and toeing off her shoes. She crawled across the blue bedspread to sit beside him.

"Sophie says you're not allowed to sleep for the next couple hours. She said you had an unfortunate encounter with a crowbar." Tali gently ghosted her hands through his hair to feel the injury, and hissed when she felt the nearly golf-ball sized lump under her fingers.

Eliot snorted, pulling just slightly away from her touch.

"I had an unfortunate encounter with _Parker_." He motioned at the ice pack laying forgotten on the night stand.

She furrowed her brow slightly, her hands moving away from the sensitive area on his head to touch his face, pushing his hair away from his eyes.

"Does she still have that duck?" She asked suddenly.

Eliot gave her a look and then laughed, which morphed into a groan when his headache increased.

"Don't do that," he said, and if it came out suspiciously close to a whine Tali had the decency not to mention it.

Smiling mischievously, raised up onto her knees and swung one leg over him, brushing her lips against his ear she whispered, "lo siento querido."

Tali grabbed the ice pack off the table and smiled when the foreign words instantly got the reaction out of him that she expected. She trailed kisses down his jaw gently and pressed the ice to the back of his head over the lump. She shifted her hips against his jean-clad ones and Eliot groaned again, causing Tali to pull away.

"That doesn't hurt your head, does it?" She asked, too innocently.

Eliot's eyes were closed when he responded, his hands braced firmly on her hips.

"Not the one that got hit with the crowbar," he responded, a willing participant in her game of innuendo.

Tali smiled and leaned back in, brushing her nose against his before dropping to kiss along his neck and collar bone, undoing the buttons of his shirt deftly with one hand.

"You said your head hurts when you laugh," she said, her accent so thick the 'y's came out sounding like slurred 'j's.

Eliot made a noise somewhere in the vicinity of 'uh-huh' as her kisses descended, peppering every bit of skin she revealed with each conquered button.

Eliot pried his eyes open when her hand tugged experimentally on the zipper of his jeans. Obviously she was taking Sophie's command not to allow him to sleep _very _seriously.

"How does it feel when I do _this_?"

oooOOOooo

Eliot walked along behind the rest of the team on the docks after watching Jimy Ford get on the boat, bound for the 'Old Country'.

Eliot thought it was too good a fate for the old man. But then, nobody had asked him.

Nate and Sophie ambled off toward his black sports car and Parker and Hardsion toward the hacker's red Ferrari.

Hardison turned back when he realized they'd lost their straggling fifth teammate.

"Yo Eliot, we're gonna go find someplace to eat, you comin?"

The other three turned upon hearing him and Eliot shook his head, moving toward his orange Challenger.

"Got plans."

It was the weekend after all.

His comment was met with a round of nods and Sophie calling back over her shoulder, "Tell Tali we say hello, Eliot!"

oooOOOooo

Eliot was waiting for her when she came out her front door a half hour later, a black duffel carrying a change of clothes slung over her shoulder and looking positively urbane in her black leggings, brown boots and grey top with the lace up back.

Her hair was pinned up with about a thousand bobby pins and Eliot itched to remove one-by-one so he could watch those curls tumble down around her face.

she tilted her head upon seeing him and her dark eye makeup shimmered in the reflection of the setting sun in the windows of the buildings around them.

"You look like James Dean," she said, sauntering over to him with an amused grin.

Eliot glanced down at himself. He'd gone home to change, now dressed in a relaxed pair of jeans, his boots and a black t-shirt and leather jacket.

He crossed her arms and ankles, leaning one hip against the side of his orange challenger.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Tali nodded, dropping her bag at her feet, she placed her hands on her hips. "You should."

Eliot uncrossed his arms and reached out, opening the passenger side door to reveal the black on black leather interior and a six speed manual gear shift just begging to be pushed to its limit.

"Let's go for a ride."

Tali ran her eyes over the aggressive, masculine lines of the car and allowed herself a small smile upon seeing the black racing stripes on the orange paint. Her mama always said all little boys just wanted to be racecar drivers.

"Gotta work tonight. I was planning to stop at the gym on the way in." She shrugged, feigning disinterest as she picked at her nails. It was a lie, of course, no one dressed like _this _to go to the gym, but she didn't want Eliot thinking he could just say 'jump' and she'd kiss him breathless without a word of protest either.

Though she probably would.

Eliot saw straight through the façade and smirked. Pushing off the car, he closed the distance between them and reached out to tilt her chin up, pressing his lips over hers demandingly.

Tali blinked when he pulled away and smiled lazily at the sight of her red lipstick smeared across his mouth.

"Fine. I'll go," she whispered a bit out of breath, but stopped him when he started to tug her forward, producing a set of keys, "but I'm gonna drive."

Eliot frowned and patted down his now empty pockets.

"How did you-?"

Tali giggled and jerked away from him, running to the other side of the car and dropping into the drivers' seat.

"Well? What are you waiting for, Cowboy?"

She pressed her foot to the gas pedal, squealing happily at the low roar of the revving engine. Eliot rolled his eyes but smiled, scooping up her bag and tossing it behind the seats before climbing in himself.

"Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" he asked, half amused, half worried.

Tali cut her eyes at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I think I can handle it."

The look in her eyes left Eliot fumbling for his seat belt and Tali laughed as she threw the car in gear and slammed her foot on the gas.

And Eliot swore he could smell rubber burning as they tore away from the curb.

_TBC_

_lo siento querido - I'm sorry, love__  
_


	12. The Underground Job

**A/N: **::Phew:: I just _barely _made it in. lol. The new episode is _tomorrow! _Sorry about that. Anyway, I'm extreamly busy right now, getting down to the wire on this wedding I'm in (not mine...not yet...) and family stuff is of course...family. So I'm taking a small break from all things internet related and the only fic I'm going to be updating for a while with any regularity is 'Making Circles' (ie - this one...). The others are on hold, but I do plan to finish them at some point. This chapters a looong one with references to previous chapters so I hope you remember! I'll try to find time to respond to reviews if anyone's confused. Keep the reviews coming as always cuz you know I love 'em! and Enjoy! -pj

* * *

**Chapter Eleven – The Underground Job**

When he left to go to the client meeting with Nate she was still asleep, half naked and tangled in his sheets. When he got back up to his apartment an hour later he found her awake, barefoot and curled up in his leather armchair.

She wore a pair of his jeans swung low on her hips and a tight white lace camisole with half an apple clamped in her teeth. Sans makeup, her hair still damp from a recent shower she looked like _sex_ to him, and his steps stuttered just slightly when he came in the door.

Tali smirked, seeing his eyes darken and tossed the crossword she'd been doodling on to the coffee table.

"Hey."

Eliot's boots scuffed across the floor as he made his way across the room and sat on the table to face her, his knees bumping against hers.

"You already took your shower," he said it like an accusation and Tali tossed her head back and laughed.

"Don't pout, it's not becoming," she thumbed his bottom lip playfully. "How'd the meeting with Nate go?"

Eliot raised and lowered one shoulder, distracted for a moment watching a drop of water fall from the ends of her hair to slide down her neck and clavicle before disappearing along the curve of her breast under her camisole.

Tali smirked and dipped her chin to catch his eyes and raised her eyebrow.

"You were saying?"

Eliot smiled like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar but was going to get the cookie anyway.

"We're going' to West Virginia," he answered and sat back, making an effort to look her in the eye. "You wanna come?"

"West Virginia?" Tali repeated, swinging her legs out to rest slightly across his lap, "like 'Crazy Banjo-playing Canibals' West Virginia?"

Eliot rolled his eyes and slid his hands under the loose fitting fabric of the jeans, absently rubbing her calf.

"You've seen too many movies."

"Probably," Tali shrugged. "Anyway, I can't go. I have to work double shifts at the club this week and Victor is _still _pissed at me for the little disappearing act I pulled when we went to Africa."

Eliot's fingers stopped their gentle massage and she looked up in time to see something ominous cross his eyes. It made her stomach clench and she opened her mouth to ask about it, but he forced a smile to cover it. After a beat she did the same.

Pulling her legs down, Tali braced her hands on Eliot's thighs and pushed herself to her feet, brushing her lips across his and then back along his jaw as she did so.

"Call me when you get back, Cowboy," she whispered, her teeth knocking slightly against the small silver hoop in his ear, "and I'll show you the meaning of the word 'home_com__ing_'."

oooOOOooo

Tali poured herself another glass of the wine Eliot had recommended to go with his dish and slid up onto the counter to watch him move about preparing the food.

Eliot Spencer was never so comfortable, she had noticed, as when barefoot in the kitchen, three different pots going with something in the oven, a beer in one hand and a knife in the other.

All he needed was a 'kiss the cook' apron.

She covered her smile at the thought with a sip of wine, wondering if Sophie might know where she could get one of those. But then again, maybe not, if he had an apron she wouldn't get to enjoy the 'Eliot cooking shirtless' view she was currently admiring.

"Sounds like you really took a liking to this 'Cory' kid."

Eliot shrugged, not looking away from the peppers and onions he was sautéing.

"He reminded me of someone I used to know."

Tali nodded, swishing the dark liquid in her glass.

"Was that 'someone' you?" she asked, all the hesitation that wasn't in her voice was reflected in her dark eyes when she glanced up at him. Eliot just smiled mysteriously and shook his head, not answering.

Tali sighed and finished her glass, choosing not to press him. Eliot had only _just _begun to open up to her, and she didn't want him to start to regret it.

She was still a little astounded that he had asked her over for dinner in leiu of the usual 'take out, ice packs and sex' combo that usually followed up one of his 'jobs'.

Eliot turned around with two plate of steaming hot food and Tali perked up.

"Hmm, smells good, Cowboy," she said, hopping off the counter and taking a long whiff of the savory scents filling the kitchen. She traded him a beer for a plate and smiled teasingly, "I just may have to keep you around."

oooOOOooo

Tali lounged back against Eliot's chest, he'd slipped on a well worn t-shirt and she enjoyed the feel of it against her cheek. Situated between his legs on one of the large patio chairs, her elbow rested on his knee to hold up her glass of wine and she closed her eyes with a contented sigh.

"Babe I swear you're a better cook every time," she smiled, inhaling the night air and the lingering note of garlic and cumin that wafted up from their plates sitting forgotten on the floor beside them.

Eliot's 'hmm' of response wasn't even audible, and Tali just barely felt it vibrate in his chest.

Her brows furrowed slightly and she shifted her head to one side so she could almost see him.

"What's wrong?"

Eliot had one arm draped down over her shoulder, fingers splayed casually across her stomach, the other held an empty beer bottle. He rotated it lazily in his hand, a concentrated look on his face he usually only wore when disarming a bomb or weeding his garden.

"Eliot?" Tali said again, "You're gonna set the label on fire."

He blinked and looked at her to find Tali smiling. Slowly, the expression faded and her frown mirrored his own.

"What?"

Eliot sighed shifting a little as he worked the words over before trying to speak. His mood had been dark, to say the least, during the job. He'd snapped at Hardison more than usual, leaving the hacker feeling like all their 'progress' over the past couple years had somehow been undone. Nate had noticed and given him an odd look a couple of times and he was sure Sophie would have called him out if she hadn't been so busy coaching Parker through the grift.

He felt just a little bit guilty about it now, he didn't like letting his feelings effect his job. But he hadn't been able to shake it this time. Every time he had a free moment, and sometimes when he didn't, he sawTali in his head, dancing up there on that stage more than half naked and for all the world to see. He saw the blank stare she'd worn in her eyes that first night in the alley and the way it always lingered when she slid into bed after a shift at the club. He saw her clothes mixed with his in the dirty laundry and his toothbrush standing beside hers on the sink.

It had brought him to a revelation. And at the most inconvenient time, he might add, which was how he ended up getting his pick stuck in the wall and having to break the handle off to keep from being impaled.

"Eliot?" Tali called his attention back to the present and he looked down at her, all wide brown eyes and dark curls and caramel skin. The revelation he'd experienced in the mine flashed through his mind again.

"I want you to stop."

Confused, Tali wrinkled her nose and guessed at what he was reffering to.

"I told I'm down to my last pack."

Eliot shook his head and closed his eyes, pushing both hands through his hair, "that's not what I mean."

"Then what _do _you mean?"

"I want you to stop," he hesitated, knowing she would not take it well, "working at the club. I want you to quit."

Immeidatly he felt her get tense and Tali turned her head away, sitting up at the end of the lounge chair with her back to him.

"You said you were okay with it." She said quietly, forced neautrality in her voice.

He responded just as quietly, watching her slumped shoulders and bowed head for any indication of where this was headed. "I know I did."

"So you're taking it back?"

Eliot paused, licking his lips and sat forward until he was nearly touching her. The scent of lilacs brushed over him and he closed his eyes against a wave of apprehension.

"I am."

The reaction was instantenous and he sensed, more than felt, her leap up from the chair turn to face him. With her back pressed against the railing of the balcony, she stood in as close to a fighting stance as she could be without actually raising her fists.

"You don't get to do that," her voice raised just slightly and it vibrated with anger, "it's nobody's dream job Eliot but it's _mine. _I have bills to pay and dancing has been paying them a lot longer than you've been around."

"Do something else."

"I can't!" she snapped, "this all I know how to do and I can't get by on just what I make from the bar you-"

"Then don't," he interrupted, making a sharp, vague gesture back toward his apartment, "you're practically living here already, just make it official." He said it like an ultimatum, the unvoiced 'what's the big deal' hanging thick between them.

Tali's mouth dropped open and the fire in her eyes died down to a low smoldering that Eliot knew was almost _more _dangerous than her previous fury. He tensed up, and he fought his natural instinct to stand and get ready for a fight.

She clenched her jaw and wrapped both arms around herself.

"That…was the single _least _romantic thing anyone has ever said to me," she smiled sharply, "and believe me, that's saying something."

Eliot sighed and took a deep breath, reigning in his temper.

"Tali, I just don't want you working there anymore."

"No. That's not _all _you want," she countered hotly, "you want me to move in with you. You want me to quit my job. What's next? You gonna make me call in every half hour so you know where I am? You gonna give me an allowance? Huh? Make me bring the receipts home so you know _exactly _where I"ve been all day and what I've been doing? Is _that _what you want?"

Eliot's brow furrowed, his anger relpalced partly with confusion, "Tali-"

She shook her head in disgust and stormed off the balcony and Eliot scrambled up from the chair to go after her.

"Tali what the hell are you talking about?"

"I am my own person Eliot," she whipped around, her voice cracked with emotions too deep to keep hiding. "I have my _own _life and you don't get to control it."

"It's not about control, Tal," he insisted, trying to keep still because every time he took a step forward she took a step back. "I just care what happens to you."

"What's the difference?" She shouted back, her jaw set stiffly and hugging her arms around herself. Her face and voice said 'strong' but the way she wouldn't quite look at him said 'scared' and he was caught somewhere between anger at such a ridiculous argument and concern at her reaction.

"Tali, I swear, it's not like that. I just…I don't like the way those guys look at you."

"Why? Because I'm _yours_?"

Eliot shook his head, "because you're better than that."

Finally her eyes moved up to his, but what he saw there made the small triumph short lived.

"You don't even know me," she said, her voice suddenly a whisper.

The words stung enough Eliot wanted to wince, but he kept his face neutral and took a small step forward.

"Then tell me."

Her mouth dropped open slightly and the look on her face reminded him of a spooked filly and he knew he'd pushed her to far. As if to confirm it Tali turned and made a beeline for the bedroom door, closing it firmly behind her.

oooOOOooo

Eliot paced his living room for nearly fifteen minutes before he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

_"What do you want?"_

Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose, "cut the crap Hardison."

_"Me? _Me_ cut the crap? Dude I wasn't the one trying to tear everyone's heads off all week." _

"Alright _alright,"_ Eliot growled and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry."

There was a pause in which all the background noise from the other side of the line ceased.

_"You're what?"_

"I-," he huffed, "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't…mean it. Or whatever."

More silence.

_"Oh, well then,"_ Hardison came back over the line sounding much more like his usual exuberant self, _"what can I do for you?"_

"You remember how I told you not to run a background check on Tali?"

"…yeah."

Eliot sighed. "What did you find when you ran that background check on Tali?"

oooOOOooo

When Hardison had finished explaining what he'd found, Eliot had been a danger not only to himself, but to everything within reach in his apartment.

His first thought had been to go pick a fight somewhere, but he'd scrapped that idea, not wanting to chance Tali taking off because he was off beating the crap out of gangbangers who didn't know any better.

Still, he needed an outlet for his energy somehow, and was practically bouncing on his toes when he decided to go do some gardening. The small spiral staircase hugged into the corner of his kitchen lead to the roof and was perfect for a quick run upstairs when he needed fresh basil or parsley. He unlocked the sunroof turned roof access point and left it open to the night air. Tali would know where he'd gone.

Taking no further delay, he flipped on the strung up lights he used when gardening at night, dropped to his knees in the large, square planter's box and started weeding. By the time he felt eyes on him an hour later, he had dirt on his face and hands, had shed his outer shirt leaving only a white undershirt on, and was sweating down both sides of his face, feeling just a little bit more in control of his emotions.

Eliot stood and turned around to see Tali standing a few feet away. Her face was turned slightly toward the small view of Boston Harbor visible from his rooftop but the small amount of light still reflected off tear tracks on her face.

"Did you mean what you said?"

If Eliot hadn't seen her lips move he wouldn't have known she'd spoken.

"Every word."

Her eyes slid over to him slowly, a guarded look in her eyes that reminded him a little bit of Parker when someone menitioned bikes or psychics.

But beyond that, behind it, he could see the vulnerability she was trying so hard to hide and the way she was practically begging him not to give up on her. Not yet.

"What do you already know about me?" she asked. When Eliot made no move to speak she pressed him. "From what you've told me, your boy Hardison can find out pretty much anything…so what do you know?"

Eliot shifted slightly and moved to get out of his garden, brushing his hands off on his jeans. Tali stayed rooted to her spot as he approached, her eyes tracking him every step of the way.

"I know you were arrested for stealing when you were 19, and for prostitution at 21," he said quietly. Tali's jaw clenched but she held his gaze unflinchingly.

"Then, for a few years there's nothing," he paused.

"Go on." Tali encouraged, both confrontational and curious.

"Four years ago you filed a restraining order against a man named Trevor Gibson. Three months after that he was arrested for Aggravated Assault and was sentenced to five years in jail. You spent a week in the hospital recuperating from a knife wound to your back." Parroting the words Hardison had said to him barely an hour before brought all the anger Eliot had been fighting back to the surface and he pressed his hands to his sides to keep them from becoming fists.

Tali's eyes skirted away, back toward the water, and her softly spoken words felt like a part of the silence instead of a break in it.

"We dated for a year before that. I met him at the club…he liked me accent," she paused, smiling at her own naivity back then.

"Later, when he asked me to move in with him…I was ecstatic somebody actually wanted me. It started out nice, he would buy things for me, compliment me…then it started to change. I couldn't do anything right…he wanted to know where I was all the time…" she swallowed hard and Eliot's eyes drifted down to her fingers where she had a white-knuckle grip on both her arms crossed over her chest.

"One day I went shopping with friends, when I got back…he threatened to kill me." She took a deep breath and looked back up at Eliot, "I got scared, packed my bags and left."

"That when you filed the restraining order?"

Tali shook her head.

"No. That came after the stalking," she shrugged and smiled again, this time showing teeth and hard enough to make Eliot's stomach roll. His fingers itched to reach out to her, there was barely an arm's length between them, but he knew she wouldn't appreciate the attempt at comfort.

"He was stealing my mail, writing hundreds of letters and emails to me. He slashed my tires, threatened my friends…he said I was _his _and he would kill anyone who thought otherwise. Including me." Tali swallowed and looked down at her feet, watching her sneakers take a small step closer to Eliot's workboots.

"When he found out about the restraining order I guess he just…lost it. He broke into my apartment…tried to make good on all those threats."

When she looked back up at him she was surprised to see they were almost chest to chest and she relished in the heat and strength radiating off him.

"Hold me," Tali whispered, sounding almost embarrassed to ask. "Please."

Eliot complied without comment, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest all in one motion. Slowly, Tali relaxed against him, pressing her face into his thin shirt and he tightened his hold on her.

"Eliot I know you're not like that…and I'm sorry for accusing you of it," she whispered, her head tilted back to look at him, causing the tears gathering in her eyes to run out the corners and slide down her cheeks.

Eliot's chest tightened with understanding, a thousand nightmares and too-close calls playing briefly through his head.

"Sometimes…it's hard to separate the past from the present."

Tali nodded, "I'm sorry."

Eliot shook his head, leaning down and pressing his lips over hers as if to erase the thought.

"You wouldn't happen to know where I can find this 'Gibson' guy, would you?"

Tali just smiled and pushed herself up to meet his lips again.

_TBC_


	13. The Rashoman Job

**A/N: **Wow, what a _hilarious _episode! I loved it. Great team dynamics. I had a lot of fun shoving Tali into this episode, though I'm not totally certain it flows as well on paper as it did in my head. Either way, let me know what you all think. By the way – where did the name 'Rashoman Job' come from? I've watched the episode waaay more times than I care to think about writing this and I still have no idea. Anywho, in my version of this, the team gets a little drunker than they did on the show, I think Tali is a bad influence. Lol. Enjoy! –pj

**Disclaimer:** Gonna toss this in: I don't own anything or anyone but Tali. Lots of dialogue from the show used in this and twisted and turned to fit my needs, while some of it is merely implied to be the same as the show. Either way, please don't sue me!

oooOOOooo

**The Rashoman Job**

Tali frowned as she entered McRory's pub, the mingled, raised voices of Eliot and two members of his team was filling the nearly empty establishment.

"Hey," she said quietly to Parker, putting her bag and keys down on the bar, "what'd I miss?"

Parker glanced at her and then looked back at Sophie, Hardison and Eliot who were growing louder by the moment trying to out argue each other.

The blonde shrugged, "nothing yet."

Tali looked perplexed and watched Parker make a swift exit from the bar to the back room only to return a moment later. This time with Nate in tow.

"Ah, went to bring in the big guns," she commented when Parker was back beside her. Parker crossed her arms.

"_Oh _yeah."

"What is this?" Nate asked the room at large, quickly bringing the three bickering teammates to silence, "I thought we were supposed to be, uh, finding Meraux."

Tali noticed Nate reaching for a bottle behind the bar to go with his empty glass and held out her hand for both, "may I?"

Nate's only answer was to hand her the items, his attention focused solely on Sophie, a concerned frown on his brow.

"More important? If we don't find Meraux I might go back to prison forever."

Tali listened to their banter as she poured the team's favorite drinks from memory, smirking at Parker's comment of their leader looking 'good in a jumpsuit' and raising an eyebrow at Hardison's 'hypnotize people' comment.

There was a story there, she was sure of it.

"We're talking about the dagger of Acu'Abi."

She listened as Sophie explained the dagger's significance, moving to stand beside Eliot. He absently wrapped his arm about her when Sophie let the news recording play and Tali hitched her leg up slightly on his so she was sitting partially in his lap. She sipped the shot of tequila she'd poured for herself listening with wide-eyed curiosity as Sophie explained the absolute _perfection _of her plan.

"No no no, I've got an idea, we let Nate decide. We let Nate decide. We tell him what happened that night and he decides who the real criminal is."

"Fine by me," Eliot snapped, and Tali made a disgruntled noise when he stole her shot and downed the remaining contents to punctuate the point.

He smirked at her and her ire was short lived thought when he sought out her lips with his in apology. The whisky mingled on their tongues.

"I didn't get a kiss hello," he whispered huskily. His eyes traveled down her frame briefly, taking in the long sleeve t-shirt, a thin black material that hung off one of her shoulders and fell to below her bottom. That coupled with her black leggings and combat boots had his eyes darkening with approval.

Tali smirked having momentarily forgotten, like Eliot, that there were four other people in the room.

"Hello," she replied, dropping another kiss to his lips. She felt his hand tighten about her waist and was in the process of tilting her head to get better access when a throat was cleared.

"Alright alright you two," Hardison said, rolling his eyes, "don't make me break out the hose."

"Try it and die, Hardison," Eliot growled, but both sighed and turned away to find Parker frowning, Hardison trying unsuccessfully to look irritated and Sophie's eyebrows were raised expectantly. Eliot's arm was still threaded around her waist and Tali threw hers across his shoulders, nodding for the grifter to continue.

"Okay, you understand, it was the perfect plan. I ran a long con for the _entire _four months of the exhibit. Two, not one, but _two _separate identities."

oooOOOooo

"Then the crate was shipped directly to the safe house in London, all under armed guard provided by the museum."

"Smooth Sophie," Tali grinned, nodding as she slid a fresh shot across the bar to the grifter, "_way_ smooth."

Sophie dipped her chin with faux modesty and toasted her before taking a delicate sip.

"Yeah, it's a good plan," Nate said with an approving nod.

Tali raised an eyebrow over the rim of her glass. There was a 'but' in there somewhere.

Sophie smiled fondly at the memory, "it was the _perfect _plan." Silence descended and Tali glanced around, trying to read the expressions of the five thieves gathered at the bar.

Oh yeah, definitely a 'but'.

"Except..."

Same as 'but'.

"The dagger wasn't in the shipment," she finished, puzzling at her shot glass, a pout on her dark colored lips.

Tali's eyes slid over at Eliot's mocking gasp of shock and she hid a smirk behind a cough when Sophie insisted she had _stolen _the dagger, but hadn't had the luxury of keeping it.

"I think I can explain it."

Tali shifted off Eliot's lap as he moved to stand and watched him finish off his shot, grab another glass and hold them both up to his eyes while pulling his hair back with the other.

She wrinkled her nose, not understanding the strange behavior and was about to ask just _how many _shots she'd given him, when a gasp of shock and dismay erupted from the other side of the bar.

"That was you?" Sophie sounded horrified and Tali couldn't help the surge of pride she felt knowing Eliot had outsmarted the talented grifter.

"Now," Eliot said with a note of finality that was hard to argue with, "let me tell you how _I _stole the Acu'abi Dagger."

oooOOOooo

"Wait, wait," Tali interrupted Eliot's story with a wave of the hand not holding her glass and tossed a few curls out of her eyes. "You took down two guys with knives in a crowded alley just like that? Like no big deal?"

Eliot paused. "Yeah." He nodded as if they were talking about the weather, "Like I said, there were only two of 'em. And they were substandard."

For a moment all eyes were on Tali and her's were on Eliot. It had been several months, but no one was ever certain how truly _okay _Tali was with what Eliot did.

"That is so…" she hesitated and Eliot felt his heart stutter just for a moment, only to jump back to life at the sight of a small smile spreading across her lips, "_hot._" She reached out to cup his neck, bringing his lips down over hers in a quick, toe-curling kiss. Groans echoed around the table along with a muttered curse from Hardison when Parker turned a smug grin toward him.

"Eleven minutes, thirty-two seconds."

"I know I know," Hardison grouched, pulling a twenty dollar bill from his pocket.

"You just couldn't wait _two more_ minutes, could you?" He glared accusingly at the pair. Eliot and Tali shrugged, unapologetic, foreheads still leaning just a bit closer than necessary and only partially aware of the team's presence.

"Alright, get on with it," Sophie said impatiently, "I'm still waiting for the part where you _supposedly _get _my_ dagger."

oooOOOooo

Six shots and forty five minutes later Eliot had finished his story and the world had taken on that warm, floaty, glowing golden around the edges feeling one gets after one too many drinks. Sophie and Nate were leaning slightly against each other, neither certain who was holding up whom, and Eliot and Hardison's dart game was extremely ill-advised.

"I don't buy it," Nate said, watching Parker give a synopsis of the past hour with a crumpled napkin and three tea cups. He shifted slightly to one side and Sophie jerked upright to keep from face-planting on the table. Nate continued, oblivious, "doesn't seem like you're kind of crime."

"Good point," Tali added unnecessarily. Eliot glanced at her from beside Hardison, taking in her slouched posture, and tilted head and the lazy way her feet were propped up on the seat beside Parker. She raised her glass at him as if to explain behavior and smiled too wide as Hardison finished speaking.

"Ohhhh…I get it," she dropped her feet to the floor with a loud thump and sat up; bumping her shoulder against Nate's when gravity shifted violently against her.

"The Dagger was gonna be your Trophy…your fancy Hacker Trophy."

They all stared at her in silence a moment before Sophie reached across the table, pulling the bottle of whiskey out of Tali's reach.

"I think you've had enough, yeah?"

Tali pouted slightly and swayed in her chair, nearly toppling to the floor. Eliot managed to catch her by the arm and sat down, pulling her across his lap in an attempt to keep her upright.

"Easy there darlin'." He said, almost chuckling and clasped his hands behind her.

Tali giggled and shushed him.

"Quiet, Cowboy. Hardison's gonna tell us about the Hacker Dagger Trophy."

oooOOOooo

Sophie had her head in her hands at the sound of Parker's interpretation of her accent, but Tali's eyes were narrowed and unnaturally focused on Hardison, just a little bit more sober than she had been twenty minutes ago.

"What?"

"Did you really stuff orderves in your pockets?"

oooOOOooo

Almost as soon as Parker finished the three who had started this whole thing fell into a new argument, bickering over who was lying and actually got away with the dagger, their voices tangling and tripping over one another with an ease born of practice.

Nate's smug expression caught Tali's attention when they both reached for the near empty bottle of whiskey and she narrowed her eyes. A quick glance exchanged with Parker confirmed that she was not the only one that had noticed.

"Nate?" The thief said slowly, a near murderous expression on her face.

There was a pause as the other three quieted and looked over at the older man.

"I think you're all forgetting to ask yourselves the one central, crucial question."

They watched as Nate rose from his seat at the table and went back over to the bar.

Tali grabbed her glass and followed, hanging on Nate's every word.

"The question is, who is the insurance company for the dagger of Acu'abi."

The reaction was delayed half a second while the team processed this and Tali stared up at Nate with wide eyes, riding the end of her buzz and looking like a child waiting for the end of a fairy tale.

"No!"

"You gotta be kiddin' me."

"Aw, man."

The team groaned, all the pieces finally clicking into place.

"Why don't you come over here and let me tell ya' what _really _happened," Nate said around his shot of whiskey.

Tali sat back on the stool, grinning as if she'd just gotten the punch line of a joke.

"So _that's _why they call you 'Mastermind'."

oooOOOooo

Nate switched off the television and the team was left glaring at the screen, the image of the snobby rich CEO from the newscast burned into their brains.

"Dibs," Parker called out, finishing her first and only shot of the night in a single gulp.

Sophie immediately protested, finishing her last –of many- shot and swayed slightly as she started for the door. Hardison reached out to steady her muttering that _he _would be the one to take down the corrupt oil executive _thankyouverymuch_.

After they'd gone Eliot caught the older man's eye, dipping his chin once in 'thanks' for unwittingly getting Gutner off his back so many years ago. Nate acknowledged him with another nod.

"Let's go, Tal."

She moved to stand from her seat at the bar, but her eyes remained glued to Nate. The appraising look Eliot was used to seeing directed at himself now pointed at the older man, but with a touch of mirth behind it that he didn't quite understand.

Tali smiled. "They all stole it, you know."

Nate furrowed his brow at her in question.

"I mean, if they hadn't been unintentionally competing against one another, if one had done the job without interference from the others…they woulda' got it," she slung her slouchy purple purse up onto her shoulder, "and you wouda' lost."

Nate smiled in that mysterious way of his and looked down at his drink.

"Guess it's a good thing they were all there then." He looked back up with a slow smile that looked both foreign and familiar at the same time.

She nodded once and stepped forward, leaning across the bar to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. Nate grew tense and his eyes slid over to Eliot who was glaring at him over her shoulder.

He cleared his throat, as she pulled away. "What was that for?"

Tali looked at Eliot and smiled fondly.

"For Gutman."

Eliot scoffed, slinging his arm across her shoulders to draw her close, almost possessively, into his side. Nate resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I coulda' taken care of it."

"Of course you could have," Tali agreed immediately, reaching up to lay a hand on his cheek as they walked toward the door, "but you would have hurt your pretty face while doing it."

Nate watched the pair through the glass doors of McRory's bar. A small smile danced on his lips when Eliot turned Tali in his arms just outside and pressed a sound kiss to her lips.

She smiled as she stepped away and Nate read the words 'like you and Sophie' on her lips, a mischievous quirk to her raised eyebrow. Nate laughed softly when Eliot made to swat at her bottom, causing Tali to squeal and turn to run up the stairs and out of sight, the hitter hot on her heels.

Nate sighed and looked down at his drink and slowly, the warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach tightened into an uncomfortable knot in his stomach.

"Hold onto her tight, Eliot," he whispered hoarsely, bringing his last shot of Jameson to his lips, Damien Meraux's face flashing through his mind.

He sighed and sat the glass down, "'Cause there's rough waters ahead."

_TBC _


	14. The King George Job

**A/N: **I reference The Boost Job chap in this one, so hopefully you remember that, but I tried to make it clear even if you don't. Seems there's a lot of shrugging in this chapter, sorry about that, I think I'm projecting. ::shrug:: lol. Thanks so much for the tremendous support of the last chapter, I tried to respond to everyone that signed their reviews, and I can't wait to hear from any and everyone this time around as well. It's a long one: Enjoy! -pj

**Disclaimer:** Gonna toss this in: I don't own anything or anyone but Tali. Lots of dialogue from the show used in this and twisted and turned to fit my needs, while some of it is merely implied to be the same as the show. Either way, please don't sue me!

oooOOOooo

**The King George Job**

Tali dropped onto the bed beside Eliot's black duffel watching him throw jeans and knives inside.

"Another job?" she asked, her accent playing slightly with the long 'o's.

Eliot grunted a response and tossed a hairbrush to the bag from the bathroom door before disappearing inside again.

She nodded, observing him quietly. His hair was loose and wavy against his shoulders, she'd discovered he liked it that way best, and there was a concentrated pinch on his brow that meant he was thinking hard about something.

This job must be important.

Eliot pulled a leather jacket from his closet and Tali raised an eyebrow. It was still very much summertime in Boston. No need for leather outerwear.

"Where to this time?"

"London," he responded pulling the headboard away from the wall slightly, he reached back for a particular knife he kept strapped to the back.

Again, Tali only nodded, folding her legs beneath her and watched Eliot finish what passed for 'packing' for him, which was just 'tossing random essentials into a bag' for anyone else. When he'd gotten everything he needed he zipped up the bag with a decisive sigh.

"All set?" Tali questioned and tilted her head up automatically when he approached her.

"All set." He nodded, a few brown locks of hair falling from behind his ears. He reached out, tugging playfully on one of Tali's curls, watching it spring back into place and he smiled, bending over to kiss her.

Tali let her eyes fall shut, relishing in his touch. Shivers ran across her spine when he pushed his tongue inside her mouth possessively, a big, calloused hand at the back of her head. She was smiling as he pulled away and her eyes darkened at the sex smirk he wore. Tali hadn't thought she liked the possessive streak some men seemed to have, Eliot more than most. But over time she'd learned that possessiveness was tempered by a tender heart and gentle hands that rivaled the damage they could inflict.

"I'll call you." He said huskily and started to pull away. He wasn't sure who was holding onto who when he neither immediately let go.

"You better."

He laughed lightly and slung his bag up onto his shoulder, turning to leave with little more than a kiss and a smile 'goodbye'.

Tali slumped back on the bed. This was her least favorite part of the jobs. The first few moments after he'd gone. When she was still so full of him and he was so very very gone, taking his aura of strength and danger and _protectwhatsmine_ with him. In those moments when the threat of 'what if' and 'could happen' were so strong that she sometimes found it hard to breathe.

"Calmate mujer," she whispered to herself, dropping one arm over her eyes. She pushed away the memory of a dozen or more times Eliot had come to her apartment after a job, and a dozen more after that at his own place, when she had iced his wounds and kissed away the pain.

Because this was Eliot. And if anyone could handle themselves it was him. He may have come back bruised and bloody but he _always _came back.

"No tendrias que calmarse si venias conmigo."

Tali froze and she shot up on the bed to find Eliot leaning against the doorframe of the bedroom, his arms crossed over his chest with a knowing grin spread across his face. Her eyes dropped to something sitting a few feet behind him. Her purple polka dot suitcase on the floor beside his black duffel at the end of the hall.

"Bastard." She muttered, realizing he'd been playing her that whole time.

He shrugged. "Givin' you an out, which apparently you don't want." Tali remained stubbornly silent, scowling at him.

"Well?" Eliot raised his eyebrows, ignoring her look completely, "You comin' or not?"

"To London? With you?" She shrugged, "why would I want to do that?"

She paused just long enough for Eliot's smug grin to falter and then launched herself off the bed, jumping into his arms.

Her legs wrapped around his waist, she laced her fingers behind his neck.

"So, do we get to take the jet?"

oooOOOooo

Tali sat looking around the small, luxurious space as if it was a novelty. This jet had more seats and cup holders than Eliot's, and everything was detailed in a light wood and crème colored leather rather than dark cherry and black. Still, what this jet lacked in imagination, it made up for with the fact that it was…well, a private jet.

Tali sipped a glass of champagne slowly and grinned across a small table at Eliot, her eyes bouncing between him and the window at the expanse of blue ocean stretching out below.

"I still can't believe you own one of these."

Eliot sighed, reclining his chair just slightly. "I try not to think about it."

Across the way Hardison sat at another two-seater table like theirs sharing his laptop and a set of headphones with Parker while they watched a movie. Further down the aisle, which was covered in a plush white carpet, at the back of the plane Nate was again standing in front of the well-stocked bar refilling his drink. Sophie sat curled up on the couch a few feet away with a book of some kind forgotten in her lap. The grifter had been uncharacteristically silent for most of the trip, often staring off into space, lost in thought. Tali knew better than to ask what was bothering her.

Sitting back in her chair Tali pulled her feet up onto the seat, watching the clouds float by at a deceptively slow pace for a few moments.

"Hey, you know what I just realized?"

Eliot cracked open an eye from his light doze to find her looking over at him. "What?"

"You're gonna be working the job when we get to London, I probably won't even see you. What am I supposed to do the entire time?"

Eliot smiled and pulled something from his pocket. "Way ahead of ya', babe." He put something small and flat on the table and pushed it across to her with his index finger.

"Your American Express?" Tali flipped it over a few times, examining the small piece of plastic, "I've never seen a black one before."

Eliot exchanged a quick glance with Hardison who just shook his head, smiling smugly to himself.

He looked back over at Tali.

"I thought you might want to do some shopping."

oooOOOooo

"What's wrong with the jaccuzzi?"

"Huh?" Hardison glanced up from the small table where his abundant supplies for forging the journal were spread out before him. Tali had just walked in from the main living area of the suite with her hair swept up in a tousled ponytail and wearing what was undoubtedly a new dress. The woman hadn't stopped bringing bags and boxes of clothes into the hotel since they landed.

"Oh, yeah," he nodded as her words registered, "uh, don't go in there."

"Don't have to tell me twice. Smells like road kill and ammonia in there. I think I burned my brain just inhaling as I walked by," she glanced at herself in the mirror, admiring the short blue halter dress and strappy brown sandals she wore.

"Those new?"

Tali turned around grinning, pleased he'd noticed.

"Yeah from that place that guy recommended."

"The concierge?"

"Yeah. Whats that all about anyway?"

"Comes with the card."

She nodded slowly, understanding. After seeing the way people's faces lit up and they snapped to attention when she pulled the thing out, she was beginning to wonder if that little black card had some sort of magical powers.

"Hardison, are you sure Eliot can afford all this?" Her brow furrowed lightly in concern. "I mean I'm really enjoying myself but…I think I've spent more money in the past two days than I have…in my entire life."

The hacker snorted but didn't look up from what he was doing beneath a magnifying glass.

"Believe me, Tal, he can afford it." His computer beeped and he shifted position to look work on it. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed her posture relax slightly at his assurance.

"Okay, good. I was worried-"

"Don't be."

She nodded, throwing him a small smile and turned back to the mirror, grinning when her skirt fluttered out to the sides if she swished from side to side.

Hardison frowned, sensing movement in his peripheral vision. Looking to one side, he found Tali spinning in a circle in front of the mirror, giggling like mad.

"Uh…Tali?"

"Hm?"

Hardison was giving her the 'you're more than a little crazy' look usually reserved for Parker and she smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry. I think I'm delirious. I've got jet lag like you wouldn't believe."

He tipped his head toward the cluttered table and raised his eyebrows.

"Oh," She nodded, "well maybe you would."

Shrugging she motioned around the room. "I just needed a break from walking around the city and our hotel room is too damn big for one person to be hanging around. Is it okay if I stay in here for a while?" She asked, already walking toward one of the gold colored wing chairs sitting in front of the fireplace.

Hardison shrugged, turning to his computer.

"Fine with me."

A half hour later when Eliot arrived with the shopping list of things he'd requested Hardison had practically forgotten she was there.

"Got your turpentine," Eliot announced, dropping the box of supplies onto the table. "And a bucket of soot," he grimaced at the dirt left on his hands, "it's everywhere."

"Haha, nice E. Way to get yo' hands dirty." Hardison took the small container, his eyes shining with glee as if he'd just been handed a new computer processer. "Did you get the walnut oil?"

Eliot nodded, rummaging around in the box with one hand, holding the other up in an attempt not to touch anything.

"Yeah, here you go. Which, by the way, I purchased from a very stunning vegan chick so, thank you for that."

Hardison's eyes widened and he shook his head, trying to subtly make the 'kill' gesture across his neck.

"What are you-" With a frown he turned to look behind to where the hacker's eyes kept skipping over his shoulder and realization dawned.

"Uh…"

"'Uh' is right, Cowboy." Tali shook her head as she stood from the chair and sauntered over to them, her face stern and eyebrow raised, a spark of mischief in her eyes. "Very stunning vegan, huh?"

Eliot smiled nervously. "Hey, Tal."

She tilted her head at him, and smiled so wide it made Eliot wince. He turned back to Hardison.

"Little warning?" He hissed.

"Hey, don't come at me crazy. How was I to know you'd come up in here runnin yo' mouth?"

"It's okay, Hardison," Tali interrupted, coming to stand beside Eliot, still giving him a look far too bright and cheery to be sincere, "Eliot and I have an understanding. You can look, but you can't touch. Isn't that right, Cowboy?"

He didn't answer. Suspicious of her behavior, he narrowed his eyes.

Tali's smile dissolved into a smirk and she shrugged, poking at a spray bottle on the table.

"Anyway, the very hot cabana boy and I had a very nice conversation earlier by the pool so," she shrugged again, turning to look at Eliot with a devious smile. He rolled his eyes, glaring lightly at her and Tali laughed.

"Very funny." Eliot said, picking up a yellow rag from the table to wipe his hands.

She smiled, nodding. "I thought so."

"Hey, put that down man," Hardison frowned up at Eliot, "that's my paper."

"It's a rag."

"That's what printers used to make paper back in the 1700s. Use a moist toweltte please and thank you."

Eliot sighed, but did as he was asked. He moved to grab a sheet from the proffered container and wrinkled his nose.

"What's that smel?"

oooOOOooo

"So how did you like London?" Hardison turned to face Tali, sitting beside him on the blue couch outside the US Customs office.

"It was nice," she smiled, "most of the stuff I bought is getting shipped to where it's going within the next couple of days."

"To where it's going?"

Tali pushed a few dark curls behind her ears. "Um, yeah. Most of it… I didn't buy it for me." Seeing his look of confusion she clarified.

"Well, most of the girls I used to work with at the club…they have to spend all their money on bills and day care and school…I just thought they'd like having some nice stuff to wear every now and then." Her smile became a bit forced, "hard to dress for a job interview when all you've got are sequined tops and miniskrits, you know? And we're all the same size so…" She trailed off, looking at the floor.

Hardison stared at her for a long moment but not able to think of anything to say, he just nodded. Tali smiled and shrugged again and looked up when Eliot came in from outside wearing one of those skullcaps he favored.

She noticed his attention being drawn from down the hall and turned to see a little girl in a striped sweater and purple backpack running toward him.

Later, when they were walking across the parking lot toward the cars, Sophie fell back in the group to walk beside Tali. The grifter studied her for a moment, taking in the soft smile playing on her dark lips and the thoughtful tilt of her head.

Since she spent most of her time with con-artists. corrupt CEOs, and suspicious crime lords, trying to read someone as easy as Tali was a welcome reprieve.

"You should have seen him before," she said, keeping her voice low enough that it would only carry to the other woman.

Tali glanced at her, "hm?"

"Before we left on this job, we tried it at Logan Airport. The little girl came up to Eliot and asked for help," Sophie smiled fondly at the memory, "he spoke to her fluently in her own language, then took her hand and led her to Airport Security."

"That's why she was so happy to see him."

Sophie nodded, "that moment with him was probably the first time the poor child had felt safe in…quite a while."

"Eliot has that effect on people," Tali shook her head, smiling. "He's such a teddy bear."

Sophie scoffed. "A teddy bear that knows six ways to kill you with his _hair._"

"Granted."

They walked a bit further in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Up ahead Eliot and Parker were laughing at things unknown and Hardison and Nate's heads were bent together in deep conversation about the next con.

"Do you want children?" Sophie asked suddenly.

Tali's head snapped over to her, but Sophie's expression held only curiosity. She shook her head.

"I can't have kids."

Sophie tensed and made a small noise of sympathy to which Tali responded with a slight nod of acknowledgment. Shrugging, she kept her eyes locked on Eliot, steering herself toward him steadily.

" I wouldn't anyway," she continued. "How could you justify bringing a child into the world we live in?" she shook her head, "and Eliot's certainly not the father type. He's more like a protective uncle I think, so maybe you and Nate should…"

"Ah ah, I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you," Sophie cut her off and they both laughed a moment.

"And I don't know," she turned and waited until Tali met her gaze. "You saw him with that little girl. Don't underestimate him, Tali."

With that Sophie picked up her pace, catching up to where the rest of the team was piling into Lucille 2.0.

Tali climbed in beside Eliot and grasped his hand. Lacing his fingers with hers absently, he continued his conversation with Parker, which had turned into an argument with Hardison. Tali promptly tuned them all out.

Gazing out the back window, the memory of the soft, almost affectionate look on Eliot's face when he saw the girl replayed over and over in her mind.

oooOOOooo

Love was slow and sweet that night. Romantic in a way that it normally wasn't. They both preferred hot and sweaty to slow and soulful. But all it took was a whispered 'go slow' to fall from Tali's lips and they were diverging from the norm. Lights off, rain pelting softly against the window they savored each touch and breathy moan that tumbled over the silence.

Somehow the slowness of it had left Eliot more exhausted than usual, while Tali couldn't even bring herself to close her eyes. Laying on her side with her head on her pillow she stared across the expanse of soft blue sheets between them at Eliot. His eyes were closed but, unable to sleep with her gaze so insistent on his skin, he opened his eyes and stared back.

For a moment neither spoke. Finally, Tali moved her knuckles away from resting against her lips.

"Who is Damien Meraux?"

Eliot grew tense for a moment, that wasn't a question he'd been prepared to answer. Tali didn't miss the change and it made her tense too.

"Bad guy." He answered simply.

"How bad?"

Eliot hesitated. Blinking slowly, he sighed before answering.

"The worst."

Tali took a deep breath and closed her eyes, keeping them closed for several seconds. When she opened them again he was still looking at her and for a moment he thought she might say something. Instead she slid across the mattress toward him.

Bracing one hand against his chest she leaned down, brushing her lips across his slowly, giving him only a taste of that which he had devoured less than an hour before. But the way her lips trembled against his made him frown and when he pulled back to look at her he was surprised to see tears shining in her eyes.

"Stay safe," she licked her bottom lip uncertainly and tried to smile. "You said you wouldn't hurt me, remember?"

He fought down a wave of resentment, at first thinking it was some kind of ultimatum, that she didn't want him to go and knowing he had no right to refuse her if it was. _He_ was the one that asked _her_ to quit her job, how could he be willing to give her any less?

But then he realized, as she hovered over him, her skin still warm and sticky against his, what she really meant. The same thing she'd meant that night after the Job with the dirty car dealer when her eyes had shone with tears and her voice was so small and uncertain it broke his heart, even now.

A tear dropped to his chest when she blinked, waiting for an answer.

He'd never thought about the fact that his getting hurt might hurt her too.

"I'll do my best," he said finally, letting the promise he wanted to give her die on his lips. Because he couldn't promise not to get hurt at all. It was practically in his job description.

Tali seemed to understand and she nodded, pressing another kiss to his lips before pulling away entirely too soon for them both.

"Just know," she whispered, resting her forehead against his, "you die…I die." She gave him a watery smile. "That's what 'love' is."

Eliot slowly pushed his hands up into her hair, his palms brushing against her cheeks and she closed her eyes at the touch.

"Being so wrapped up in another person…"

"…that it swallows you whole." She finished.

He nodded and smiled crookedly, "you love me?"

Tali shook her head, something like a smile slipping past the fear and fire in her eyes. "You shouldn't even have to ask, Cowboy."

Eliot sighed deeply and brought his hand up from her arm to wrap around Tali's back, encouraging her down until she was laying on his chest, one ear pressed to the place over his heart. She sighed listening to it beat, strong and steady.

"I love you too." Eliot's voice quietly broke the silence a few minutes later. They were the last words spoken for the rest of the night.

_TBC_

Just in case you don't understand the significance of an American Express Black Card (withoutspaces)** http: /www. hottnez. com/exclusive-credit -cards-with-sky- high-limits/** basically, you gotta have some SERIOUS cash to get one of those. You have to be _invited _to get an Amex Black...unless you're good friends with an above average hacker...but I digress...

And Eliot said _'you wouldn't have to calm down if you came with me'_ in Spanish because Tali said (to herself) _'calm down, woman'_.


	15. The Morning After Job

**A/N:** Okay so, I've gotten several PMs asking what I'm planning to do with this over the hiatus and whether or not I'll continue it into the Fourth Season. First of all, let me say how incredibly _stoked _I am that there are people even _interested _in what may happen to this in the future. lol. Second, I have a few chapters that I want to do past this one (if you read to the end you'll understand why) and then I plan to just leave it alone until the last three episodes at the end of this season. At this time I'm not planning to continue into the Fourth season, mostly cuz I think that would require going _way _further into AU territory than I'm comfortable with, but really that can't be decided for sure until I see how they end this season.

As for this chapter, I really struggled with it (as you may have guessed with how freakin _long _it took me to post it) and I really _really _hope you guys enjoy and think it's at least reasonably IC. Let me know, okay? Also, there's two major echoes from previous chapters in this, one subtle, one not, I'd love to see if you catch 'em. Again, this chap is to help the fic live up to it's namesake...sorry. lol. Enjoy! -pj

_We go round and round__  
Tryin' to work it out__  
And all we get's Hell bent and bound  
Never far from right where we are_

_You'd think that we'd get enough  
And be sick and tired of fuckin' up  
Holdin' on and sinkin' down  
Here we go round and round_

_(Select Verses) Making Circles – Christian Kane_

oooOOOooo

**The Morning After Job**

Eliot sipped slowly on his beer, sidled into a booth beside Sophie in McRory's across from Hardison and Parker. Both he and Hardison still wore their costumes from earlier that day, minus most of the weapons and TAC gear, and Sophie had finally managed to help Parker remove the last remnants of her blue lipstick and makeup.

"God, will the ringing _ever _stop?" Sophie complained, clamping her hands over her ears and clenching her eyes shut.

Parker tilted her head at her, attempting to look sympathetic and awkwardly patted the grifter's arm.

"There there."

Sophie opened her eyes and gave her a look.

"My dog hasn't died, Parker. I just have a headache."

"You have a dog?"

Sophie made a disgusted noise and dropped her head back into her hands and Hardison chuckled quietly, sipping a coke.

"Eliot, man," he looked over at the hitter, who was looking surprisingly relaxed for someone who didn't have a Dominican beauty on his arm. "Where's Tali tonight?"

"Workin'," Eliot grunted, lifting his beer to his lips, "at the bar."

Parker wrinkled her nose, pulling her legs up under her so that she shifted minutely closer to Hardison and was leaning against him shoulder to shoulder.

"She still does that? Doesn't she know you're loaded?" She asked indelicately and momentarily got a dreamy look on her face remembering the checks they'd gotten after that first job.

"It's not like it's the kind of thing that just pops up into conversation Parker," Eliot defended gruffly.

The thief shrugged, unphased by his ire.

"Still," Sophie lifted her head and rested it on her hand to look over at the hitter, "it does seem like the sort of thing she ought to know. That bar where she works is completely awful." She finished with a disgusted face. Across the table Hardison 'hmm'd in agreement and hardly noticed when Parker swiped his coke and finished it off.

Eliot rolled his eyes but his phone started to vibrate before he could respond and fished it out of his pocket.

_"Hello?" _

Eliot frowned, catching eyes briefly with Hardison, whose brows furrowed in return.

"Who is this?"

_"Um, my name's Dana. I'm looking for Eliot?" _

"How did you get this number?" Eliot demanded. There were a half dozen people in the world that had the number for his mobile phone, and four of them were sitting in that bar. Across the table Hardison pulled out his own phone, pointed at it and mouthed 'trace?'.

_"From Tali." _

Eliot shook his head and got up from the table, his heart beating just a little bit faster as worry started to claw at the edges of his mind.

"What do you mean? Where is she?"

_"Oh, she's here and um, it's just that…damn, she'd be pissed if she knew I called you." _

"Dana," Eliot said sharply, not liking the nervous timbre of the young woman's voice, "what's going on?"

_"Look, its nothing serious okay? I mean, not yet or…well…"_

Eliot made a noise of frustration that must have sounded like a growl from the other end because she was suddenly pouring out all she knew.

_"It's just that there's these big dumb guys that have been givin' us a hard time all evening and they're drunk and the boys aren't workin' tonight and Tali keeps trying to get them to leave but, you know Tali, she can't keep her mouth shut when she outta and they're all gettin' really upset and I'm afraid-"_

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

Eliot snapped his phone shut and spun around to walk back to his table.

"Eliot is everything-" Sophie started, but he cut her off, all the relaxation and contentment of the post-job high gone from his persona.

"There's trouble down at the bar, I'm gonna go deal with it." He turned around to leave, the tense set to his shoulders telling all the regulars to keep clear of him. He was a bit surprised to feel a pressure on his shoulder as he reached the door.

Hardison raised his eyebrows at him.

"There's a reason we got partners man," he tapped one lanky finger against his forged badge.

Eliot hesitated only a moment before jerking his chin once.

"Alright, c'mon."

oooOOOooo

In the end, Eliot was glad Hardison came along. He wasn't sure he could have controlled himself if he hadn't had the hacker at his back.

The bar was nearly in shambles when they got there. Tali held a crowbar in one hand and had fisted the other with Dana pushed into a corner behind her. The younger woman was crying and Tali was shouting and cursing, in Spanish and English while the three men destroyed everything in their path as they stumbled around in a drunken rage.

Eliot enjoyed putting them down probably more than he should have.

Hardison stuck around when the cops arrived, helping give credence to the 'buddy cops' persona and then escorted Dana home, leaving a still wired Eliot and Tali to their own devices.

Tension and adrenalin were not a good mix under the best of circumstances and emotions ran high on the ride back to Eliot's place, with more than one frivolous argument erupting between them. Tali gave as good as she got on any night and Eliot's short fuse, made shorter by a full day on the con, had things coming to a dangerous boiling point by the time they reached his front door.

"_Hell_ no Eliot," Tali practically shouted as they came through the door, tossing her purse across the room where it missed the couch by a mile. She whirled around to face him, hands on her hips. "I already quit one job for you, I'll be _damned_ if you'll take this one too!"

"Hey! You ain't puttin' that on me," Eliot retorted, slamming the front door shut behind him, "you don't do a damn thing unless you want to. You quit that job for _you_."

"Oh please," she scoffed, her smile venomous and sharp, "I'm not the one who almost got himself _killed _in a mine shaft because he just could _stand _the thought of somebody else seeing me naked. Believe me, mandamás, I have _nothing_ to hide."

Eliot rolled his eyes, stalking away from her toward the bedroom. "Don't give me that, Tali. You've got nothing _but _secrets."

Tali made an affronted noise and followed, watching him rip off his blue uniform shirt and throw it at the laundry basket with much more force than necessary.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It _means," _he paused, spinning back toward her, his lips curled in a snarl, "I know less about you than I do _Parker_. And believe me, darlin', that's sayin' somethin'."

He yanked open his dresser drawer and pulled out a new shirt. He was surprised when a pair of hands much smaller than his grabbed at it and jerked it away.

He barely had time to react before those same small hands reached up and shoved him backward onto the bed. Immediately Tali was on top of him, straddling his hips and slamming her mouth down over his, hot and aggressive. They both tasted blood from where their lips were caught between each other's teeth.

No sooner had his back hit the mattress than Eliot was flipping them over so that Tali was the one on her back and she let out a small cry of surprise at his force. Still kissing her with bruising force, he reached for her arms and jerked them up over her head, holding onto her wrists while she struggled against him.

Her hips bucked at him and ground against his and he grinned darkly, opening his eyes and knowing they mirrored the lust in hers.

"It _means _everything I know about you I learned because Hardison hacked a police report."

Tali went rigid beneath him and her eyes widened, all the desire draining from them, leaving only the anger smoldering underneath.

"You bastard," she hissed, and with that she yanked her hands loose and sat up, forcing him to move off of her. She bent over, giving him a show in her jean mini-skirt, and snatched the clean, discarded shirt from the floor and threw it at him before stalking out of the room.

Eliot tugged the garment on roughly and jumped to his feet, following her down the hall.

"You wanted to know my life story, right? Well guess what, that highway goes both ways sweetheart."

"Oh it does, does it?" Tali snapped, breathing shallow and harsh. She pointed at the fresh bruise on her arm from when she got in the way of a flying chair that night. "How about these, huh? These go both ways too? 'Cause I don't recall ever pitchin' a fit like this when _you _come home covered from head to toe in bruises a hell of a lot worse than this."

She shook her head, practically vibrating with anger. "You're not the only one that knows how to take care of themselves, you do realize that don't you?"

"Oh _I_ know. Problem is _you _don't know. You have _no idea_ what the world's like, Tali. You don't understand what people are capable of." He shouted back. He was too caught up in the moment to see the hurt that flickered across her face at his words. And she was too caught up to keep herself from lashing out in return.

"Yeah, well guess what? The whole world isn't like_ you _Eliot!" She cried, slamming her hand down on a nearby table.

The words drew Eliot up short and brought his movements to a screeching halt.

He nodded, his voice suddenly quiet and rough.

"You're right. They're not." He turned to walk away.

Desperate and furious, Tali followed him across the living room toward the kitchen and foyer.

"No, uh-uh, you don't get to walk away. You don't get to make me the bad guy-"

The loud, solid sound of flesh hitting drywall stopped her and she gaped at Eliot's fist now planted in the wall.

"That's because _I'm _the bad guy. Right Tal?" he bellowed, pulling his hand out and shaking off the white dust that clung to his broken skin. His eyes locked with hers, cold and blue. "I'm a _bad guy _and you'd be better off without me."

He turned and snatched his jacket off a hook on the wall and was gone through the front door before she could think of anything to say. The door slamming behind him pulled her out of her shock and instantly tears sprang to her eyes.

"Eliot!"

She ran to the door, flinging it open and hardly noticing when it banged against the wall.

"Eliot wait!"

But it was too late, he was gone.

She stared out into the empty hall for several minutes, willing him to come back into view. When he didn't, she slowly closed the door again and turned to lean against it.

The first sob broke loose and her knees buckled and she slid down to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. She leaned her head on her knees and, crying quietly, feeling hopelessly alone, she was left to wonder how it all went to hell so fast.

TBC

_mandamás - boss man, macho man_


End file.
